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- "I name the Emperor himself for ordering the brutal attacks on the people of Ghorman. Their peaceful world is one of countless systems helpless under his oppressive rule. This massacre is proof that our self-appointed Emperor is little more than a lying executioner, imposing his tyranny under the pretence of security. We cannot allow this evil to stand."
- ―Mon Mothma, in an address to the Imperial Senate
Ghorman was a Colonies planet located along the Rimma Trade Route. Its sector, the Sern sector, was represented by Senator Fang Zar in the Galactic Republic's senate during the Clone Wars. Under the oppression of the Galactic Empire, Ghorman and its people were debated over in the Imperial Senate, with individuals such as Ars Dangor and Sly Moore cutting off the world's shipping lanes. The Ghorman Front, an anti-Imperial group, was active by around 5 BBY. In 2 BBY, a peaceful protest took place against Imperial oppression, but ended with the Imperial troops slaughtering protesters.
Description[]
Ghorman was a terrestrial planet[4] located in a star system[8] in the Sern sector[3] within an intersecting portion of the Interior[2] and the Colonies regions. Situated at the coordinates L-13 on the Standard Galactic Grid, the world fell along the Rimma Trade Route[1] super-hyperroute[9] between the[1] planets[10][11] Giju and Thyferra.[1] Ghorman shared its name with the Ghorman velvet and Ghorman silk materials.[12]
History[]
Rebellious origins[]
- "All those arrested had also been signatories to the Petition of the 2,000, a formal protest against Palpatine's new system of regional governorship that was signed by two thousand legislators and presented during the last full Senate session. Is your senator a traitor?"
- ―HoloNet News report, on the senators like Fang Zar that were arrested after the Empire's founding
Senator Fang Zar (right), who represented Ghorman's sector, was a member of the Delegation of 2,000.
During the Clone Wars, a galactic war between the Galactic Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems that began in 22 BBY,[4] the Sern sector, and therefore Ghorman, was represented by Senator Fang Zar in the Galactic Senate.[14] Ghorman and other worlds in Zar's sector like Albrae-Don were considered to be rebellious.[3] Towards the war's end, Zar joined around two thousand legislators known as the Delegation of 2,000 in signing the Petition of 2,000, a formal protest that called for the Republic Supreme Chancellor Sheev Palpatine to give up his emergency powers and begin cease-fire talks with the Separatists. The petition was presented during the last full Senate session before the Clone Wars ended[13] in 19 BBY.[4]
The end of the Clone Wars saw the Republic's transition into the Galactic Empire under Emperor Palpatine and the destruction of the Jedi Order, with all Jedi becoming enemies of the Republic and subsequently the Empire.[4] A day after the founding of the Empire, sixty-three senators that had signed the Petition of 2,000, including Zar, were accused of having colluded with an alleged Jedi insurgency and arrested as a result. The HoloNet News,[13] the Empire's official state-sanctioned news agency,[15] made a report on the incident shortly after, where it released a partial list of those taken into custody including Zar. Any senator that professed their loyalty to the Empire was freed from custody thereafter.[13]
Political debate[]
- "Senator Dhow's proposal is both temperate and timely, far more reasoned and thoughtful than the calls for decree we've been hearing from the other side. There will be a fact-finding commission put in place this session, and it will prove that this is a boot to the throats of all Ghormans, who've done nothing more than request their basic rights. My bill assails the coarse and blatant domination of a peaceful and faithful ally."
- ―Mon Mothma defends Ghorman in the Imperial Senate
During the reign of the Empire, Ghorman fell under Imperial rule[8] and oppression.[17] The anti-Imperial group named the Ghorman Front eventually began to be active. Imperial policy around Ghorman and its resident Ghormans also became the subject[16] of the Ghorman Debates in the Imperial Senate[18] by 5 BBY,[19] some calling for decree over Ghorman matters.[16] That year,[19] Imperial officials, including Ars Dangor and Sly Moore, cut off the planet's shipping lanes, affecting the food supply of the resident Ghormans.[7]
The day after the decision, Dangor and Moore were expected at a dinner at the residence of the Senator Mon Mothma of the Imperial Senate, having been invited by Mothma's husband Perrin Fertha. Mothma despised the decisions on the Ghorman shipping lanes and argued with Fertha about his decision to bring Dangor and Moore, sarcastically asking whether they should find some Ghorman guests for the dinner as well.[7] Shortly after, Senator Dhow proposed a fact-finding commission into the Imperial policy regarding the Ghormans. Mothma backed the proposal with her own bill in a senate session in hopes of it being able to assail the Empire's treatment of Ghorman's people, but she was interrupted by news spreading about a major heist.[16]
Spark of rebellion[]
- "This attempt to crush dissent may have been a serious miscalculation by the Imperial officials who orchestrated it. Rather than terrify the wider civilian population into accepting Imperial rule, it showed many with rebel leanings that if even peaceful protest would be greeted with death, then there could be no political solution or compromise."
- ―Beaumont Kin, The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
In 2 BBY, residents of Ghorman carried out a peaceful demonstration[18] in protest against the Imperial oppression on their world.[17] However, Imperial officials responded to the dissent by having[18] Imperial troops start massacring protesters,[4] leading to a civilian death toll reported between hundreds to thousands. The incident became known as the Ghorman Massacre.[18]
In the wake of the atrocity, Senator Mothma went before the Imperial Senate and spoke out against Palpatine, naming him for ordering the Ghorman Massacre and denouncing his tyrannical leadership. At the end of the statement, she promptly left the session with her aides and went into hiding. The fugitive Mothma went on to found the Rebel Alliance against the Empire shortly afterwards, uniting many rebel cells that had been operating under her own unofficial network for some time.[13]
In response to the massacre on Ghorman, journalist Corwi Selgrothe left her position at HoloNet News to join the Alliance. Pollux Hax[18] the Empire's Minister of Information,[20] spoke in the aftermath of the atrocity, declaring that the accepting Imperial law was the only way for citizens to protect themselves from the dangers of disorder.[18]
Aftermath[]
- "Is that Sacha-Lo from Ghorman?"
"Sure is. I smuggled a few cases after the disaster and kept a few bottles for myself." - ―The smuggler Sana Starros and Mevera Starros
After the Alliance's establishment, a speech made by Mothma known as the Declaration of Rebellion circulated around on the HoloNet channel and through posters, one such being found on Ghorman.[22] Secretly part of the Alliance, Senator Tynnra Pamlo served as their Minister of Education, being exposed to evidence of the Empire's atrocities on Ghorman and other worlds while working with the Alliance's intelligence branch.[17] After the Ghorman Massacre, the artist Mevera Starros smuggled a few cases of the Sacha-Lo bevarage from Ghorman, keeping a few bottles for herself.[21]
Around 3 ABY,[23] the Imperial Security Bureau Agent Andressa Divo made a report regarding the search for the Alliance's most recent base, commenting that civilian deaths on populated planets like Ghorman and Garel had prompted the Alliance to seek out unsettled worlds to establish their operations.[24]
The Memorial to the Missing of Ghorman was eventually established to remember those who had been killed on Ghorman by the Empire during its reign. The Empire kept a section on Ghorman in their Imperial Archives, which included a file on the "Reprisal Activities" that contained information on the Ghorman Massacre. Reading that file, the historian Beaumont Kin discussed the Ghorman Massacre and its consequences in[18] his[25] 35 ABY[26] book The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire. In the text, he described the atrocity on Ghorman and discussed the aftermath, arguing that it only taught those with rebel sympathies that there was no political compromise with the Empire. He also mentioned the Memorial to the Missing of Ghorman alongside similar structures to remind readers that so many had died under the Empire that no information remained on many victims.[18]
Inhabitants[]
- "We should find some Ghorman guests for tonight and see how amused they are. Your fun friends just cut off their shipping lanes yesterday. Do you know how many will starve?"
- ―Mon Mothma, to Perrin Fertha
The residents of Ghorman were known by the same name.[7] The human[5] Magva Yarro was a Ghorman idealist who took part in the protests that ultimately ended in the Ghorman Massacre. Having survived the atrocity, she went on to join the extremist rebel group known as the Partisans.[17] Similarly, Fennro Drogan was a human Ghorman who was part of the Ghorman Front before eventually serving with the Alliance's Bitter Pill Company.[6]
Behind the scenes[]
Ghorman was introduced into the current Star Wars canon when it was included on a map that was implemented into the fifty-second issue of De Agostini's magazine series Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon,[27] published around December 30, 2015.[28] The planet Ghorman originated in Star Wars Legends continuity, where it was first mentioned in the Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game supplement The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, published by West End Games in 1990.[29] Ghorman's first appearance in Legends was in the 1993 LucasArts video game Star Wars: X-Wing.[30]
Appearances[]
- The High Republic Adventures (2021) 1 (Picture only) (Based on correspondence between the galactic map and maps in other sources)
Andor — "Aldhani" (Indirect mention only)- Andor — "The Eye" (Indirect mention only)
- Star Wars Rebels — "Secret Cargo" (Mentioned only)
- Sana Starros 2 (Mentioned only)
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 Star Wars Galaxy Map
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars Galaxy Map places Ghorman in the area of space Star Wars: The Galactic Explorer's Guide identifies as the Interior.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Star Wars: Timelines
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide
- ↑ 6.0 6.1
Kit Reveal - Captain Drogan on Electronic Arts' official website (backup link)
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 7.4 Andor — "Aldhani"
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Star Wars Rebels — "Secret Cargo"
- ↑ Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 48 (Guide to the Galaxy: Visiting Ord Mantell)
- ↑ The Weapon of a Jedi: A Luke Skywalker Adventure
- ↑ "General Equipment (2)" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- ↑ The High Republic: Convergence
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Star Wars: The Rebel Files
- ↑ "The End of the Clone Wars" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- ↑ HoloNet News in the Databank (backup link)
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 Andor — "The Eye"
- ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 17.3 Star Wars: Geektionary: The Galaxy from A - Z
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 18.8 Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire
- ↑ 19.0 19.1 The events of the episode "Aldhani" and "The Eye" take place in 5 BBY per the reasoning here.
- ↑ HoloNet News promotional pin
- ↑ 21.0 21.1 Sana Starros 2
- ↑ Star Wars Propaganda: A History of Persuasive Art in the Galaxy
- ↑ Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy's Most Notorious dates both the report on suspected rebel base locations and Han Solo's encasement in carbonite to the year 7980 C.R.C. As Star Wars: Timelines places the latter in 3 ABY, the report must also be set around that year.
- ↑ Star Wars: Scum and Villainy: Case Files on the Galaxy's Most Notorious
- ↑ Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary
- ↑ Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire states that thirty years have passed since the end of the Galactic Civil War and months have passed since the Battle of Exegol. As Star Wars: Timelines dates the end of the war to 5 ABY and the Battle of Exegol to 35 ABY, the in-universe The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire must have been published in 35 ABY.
- ↑ Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 52 (Guide to the Galaxy: The History of Neimoidia)
- ↑ The second issue of the De Agostini weekly magazine Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon was set to be published on January 14, 2015, according to De Agostini Publishing: Build the Millennium Falcon Magazine & Model by Chris Wyman on TheForce.net (January 8, 2015) (archived from the original on November 6, 2016). Therefore, Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon 52 was published around December 30, 2015.
- ↑ The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook
- ↑ Star Wars: X-Wing
