Great Hyperspace War Bas-Relief

Great Hyperspace War Bas-Relief
Production information
Model	Bas-relief frieze
Type	Sith artifact
Culture	Sith
Creators	Massassi
Date created	Sometime after 5000 BBY
Date discovered	c. 22 BBY
Owners	Sith Emperor Darth Sidious
Locations	Dromund Kaas Imperial Citadel Yavin 4 Coruscant Chancellor's Suite, Republic Executive Building
Physical and technical specifications
Width	Several meters
Other markings	Depiction of a Great Hyperspace War battle
Usage and history
Heritage	Sith
Affiliation	Massassi Sith Empire Order of the Sith Lords

This Great Hyperspace War Bas-Relief was a Massassi frieze, excavated from an archaeological dig on Yavin 4 by the Wolhanian expedition.

History

A bas-relief in the Imperial Citadel on Dromund Kaas.

In 3678 BBY, this art piece, or a similar rendering of it, was displayed along the wall of the Sith Emperor's chambers in the Dromund Kaas citadel in Kaas City.

Nearly four millennia later, after the duel on Yavin 4, Mas Amedda was sent to the moon to acquire it, along with piranha beetles, for Chancellor Palpatine, who put the pair on display in his antechamber.

It was said to depict a ferocious battle which took place during the Great Hyperspace War, with followers of the light side and the dark side clashing together, alongside various war beasts. Jedi visitors to his office believed that it was a nod of respect towards their order, but it was actually a statement of Palpatine's belief in Sith superiority.

By the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin, nineteen years after Palpatine declared himself Emperor, Palpatine's ownership of the bas-relief had spread via rumors.

Behind the scenes

The original concept art made for the frieze during production of Revenge of the Sith

"The idea behind the archeological frieze in Palpatine's office is that it depicts an event. George was very clear about making it a dynamic and somewhat gory scene of Jedi and aliens and warriors fighting each other."

―Erik Tiemens

The day before the shooting of the scene in Palpatine's private office George Lucas decided to put an elaborated sculpture in the hallway. The frieze was drawn by design supervisor Erik Tiemens and sculpted by Richard Miller, depicting a legendary or historical battle between aliens and humans, with some of the aliens resembling "grays". Later in Expanded Universe materials the sculpture was identified as portraying the Great Hyperspace War between Jedi and Sith.

Included in both versions of the piece is a female warrior curiously similar to concept art depicting a red-haired "Sith Witch," which was rejected as a villain in the prequel trilogy. Whether this was an intentional nod to the character is unknown.

Appearances

• The Old Republic, Blood of the Empire Act 1: Shades of the Sith
• Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (First appearance)
• Star Wars Galaxies: The Complete Online Adventures

Sources

• Star Wars: Complete Locations
• Creating the Worlds of Star Wars: 365 Days
• Star Wars Insider 92
• Star Wars Galaxies Trading Card Game — Champions of the Force (Card: Great Hyperspace War Bas-Relief) (backup link) (First identified as Great Hyperspace War Bas-Relief)
• Star Wars: Beware the Sith
•  Star Wars: The Card Game — A Dark Time (Card: Serve the Emperor) (backup link) (Picture only)
• "Launch Pad" — Star Wars Insider 150 (Indirect mention only)

Notes and references

In other languages

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