Kijimi City

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Originally known as Kijimiko, a spiritual settlement centered around the Dai Bendu Monastery, Kijimi City laid on the frigid Mount Izukika of the planet Kijimi. The city became a lawless refuge due to the world's remoteness, with various gangs, guilds, and clans dominating densely packed houses between windswept alleys, separated by neutral safe zones and cantinas.

Kijimi City was raided in the final hours of the First Order-Resistance War, when the First Order and its Supreme Leader Kylo Ren sought out the Jedi Rey and her compatriots. The entire planet was annihilated soon after by the Sith Eternal warship Derriphan, commanded by Captain Chesille Sabrond, under the instructions of the resurrected Palpatine and Allegiant General Pryde.

Description[]

Kijimiko was a settlement built atop a plateau of Mount Izukika, on the Mid Rim Territories planet Kijimi. At an altitude of 4200 meters on a frigid and moonless world, Kijimiko was blasted by frosty winds yet remained habitable, with Izukika surrounded by more jagged mountain peaks. Its temperature dropped remarkedly cold at night, and the city's average temperature was -25 degrees standard. The granitic stone of the Dai Bendu Monastery formed the center of the city, which was effectively its planet's capital.^[3] Around Kijimi Spaceport and Kijimiko Square,^[5] the city had cobblestone streets between many temples, monasteries, and relics used by monks.^[4]

Beside Queen's Road,^[5] Monk's Gate was situated on the northernmost wall of the Quarter of the Beatific, home to pilgrims of the Brotherhood of the Beatific Countenance. The latter area became known as Thieves' Quarter and housed Babu Frik's workshop and cantinas, including one named the Monastery,^[3] which hid a secret entrance to the Spice Runners' Den,^[6] and the Domak Refectory. Roadway Gate was also an entrance to Thieves' Quarter.^[5]

History[]

Monks and outlaws[]

"This whole city was started by people running from something. You think they're all free now, ND-5?"
"I do not understand the question. They are now under the rule of the Ashiga. And the Empire."
"Yeah. You need piles of credits to really be free. But having the Trailblazer feels close."

―Kay Vess and ND-5, in Kijimi City^[5]

KijimiCity-DB — Kijimi City laid on a mountain plateau

Kijimiko^[3] was founded around 982 BBY.^[1] The town was built around the monasteries of several religious orders^[7] and centered around the temple of the Dai Bendu, which was built with stones quarried from Mount Izukika. Kijimiko grew to be famed for its marked spirituality^[3]—the Dai Bendu were the precursors of the Jedi Order.^[8] The original monks of the city lit lanterns to counter the cold of the night, and their way of survival evolved into a lantern ceremony about gratitude. The Dai Bendu Monastery received Lorrdian pilgrims of the Brotherhood of the Beatific Countenance from off-world, but the Brotherhood was chased off Kijimi by rising criminality, allowing thieves and squatters to occupy their quarter in the city in spite of the Dai Bendu temple guardians. Individuals seeking to evade interstellar law were attracted to Kijimi's remote and rural nature. The city's infrastructure was neglected amidst the lawlessness, and dwellers had to improvise heating and power supply, relying on local gangs, guilds, and clans to provide basic services in return for their pledges of loyalty.^[3]

KijimiAshigaPatrols-Outlaws — Ashiga Clan members patrol the streets of Kijimi.

As time went by, criminal self-interests of the city kept civilization from collapsing.^[3] Kijimi City had been under the rule of the Ashiga Clan for generations during the the Imperial Era. The dynasty was based around a hive of the Melitto species.^[5] Hailing from the volcanic Inner Rim Territories planet Li-Toran, the Melitto were insectoids traditionally organized around female myrmitrices who fought to become queens, and surviving myrmite followers of their defeated myrmitrix became hiveless ronin who generally left off-world and relied on special breathing apparatus. Li-Toran underwent centuries of warfare until the founding of a planetary council to prevent global catastrophe by supporting interstellar colonization,^[9] and Melitto settlements were established on several worlds.^[10] Members of the Ashiga Clan on Kijimi were willing to sacrifice themselves for the hive, which manufactured weaponry and dominated the city's underworld.^[5]

The clan's grip was weakening when the scoundrel Kay Vess and her companion Nix visited Kijimi City during the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic. Under Queen Ashiga directed the clan to begin manufacturing weapons for the Imperial Military, and the explosives expert Ank Parako, who owed large amounts of debt, was forced to assist with the project. The queen's heir, Krisk Ashiga, was unhappy with the clan's loss of independence and worked with Lady Qi'ra of the Crimson Dawn syndicate to subvert her mother's rule. While Imperial stormtroopers maintained a presence on Kijimi's streets, Crimson Dawn secretly operated from the Thermal District. Requiring Ank Parako as the safecracker for a heist on the planet Cantonica, Vess searched Kijimi City with advice from ND-5—who had visited the city several times and remained on their starship, the Trailblazer, in the spaceport.^[5]

As the rebel armada prepared to battle the Imperial Death Star in the Outer Rim's Endor system in 4 ABY, Zarah Bliss had died and Zeva Bliss united the Spice Runners of Kijimi. Among the spice runners, Tomasso had been a secret informat working directly with the leader of the Rebellion, Mon Mothma, and the spy wanted to keep his place among the Spice Runners despite their change of leadership. The Empire manipulated Tomasso, letting him learn that the regime's highest echelons, including Emperor Palpatine himself, would travel to the Death Star, which prompted Tomasso to meet with Mothma on the Outer Rim planet Desinta. Tomasso was tracked by the Spice Runner Marinda Gan, who had been bribed by the Empire to work with bounty hunter Lan-Drus without Bliss' knowledge. Gan realized that her plot was being investigated by rebel spy Buccel Trune and let Green Squadron, a rebel cell based at Kellgar Six, take the ship Ezra's Gate so that she may track down Trune. However, thanks to the efforts of Green Squadron pilot Shara Bey and her husband, Alliance Pathfinder Kes Dameron, Mothma survived Lan-Drus' assassination attempt and determined not to let on Tomasso's assistance.^[11]

Following Bliss[]

"It's only going to get stronger. The New Republic doesn't care about what goes on here, and Kijimi can tell. They don't have the firepower to pacify worlds on the fringe, or places that aren't cosmopolitan or of strategic value. That will come back to haunt them."

―Zorii Bliss^[4]

Mothma's rebels defeated the Empire at the Battle of Endor by destroying the second Death Star, with Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader perishing aboard.^[3] The remaining Imperial leaders were disunited, though Governor Ubrik Adelhard of the Anoat sector reached out to the Spice Runners of Kijimi, personally visiting Zeva Bliss' throne on the planet alongside his lieutenants Kith Alaytia and Bragh. Although spice runners such as Vigilch was eager to kill them, Bliss let Adelhard make his pleas. She recognized the governor's "bravery" to set foot on Kijimi and entered negotiations with him, hearing that he led an Imperial remnant willing to work with criminals and eschew the plans of others who led the shattered Empire.^[12]

Following the collapse of the Empire and Jabba the Hutt's demise at nearly the same time, criminal gangs warred over the Outer Rim world Kessel's spice trade. The Empire, the Mining Guild, and the Hutts no longer afforded protection to starships along the spice routes,^[3] with the processing terminals of Oba Diah and Formos becoming targeted worlds. Taking advantage of the Pyke Syndicate's waning influence on the spice trade,^[4] the Spice Runners pirated shipments exiting the Maelstrom around Kessel. The group also protected ships that paid them protection money and eventually set up an exclusive arrangement with mine operators to expand the Kessel Run to Kijimi, where the Spice Runners hid among the spacers of the city with a den in Thieves' Quarter.^[3]

The Rebellion reorganized as the New Republic and ushered in a period of relative peace and democracy^[4] after ending the Galactic Civil War in 5 ABY.^[2] In the following years, the galactic government's leadership was stretched thin and its momentum had been interrupted by campaigns against Imperial Remnants. The growth of the criminal underworld prompted common apathy toward the New Republic, and Kijimi City remained an anarchy,^[4] having been free from the reach of galactic government and raided and ruled by various factions throughout its history. As a remote, if frigid, haven of lawlessness, the city continued as a general refuge for typically unscrupulous spacers, yet many of them were superstitious and revered the city's ancient monuments. City dwellers treated gaps between various criminal groups' clearly marked territories as safe spaces, including cantinas in neutral blocks in Thieves' Quarter, though enslavers were not welcome and not afforded any safe quarter in Kijimi City.^[3]

Fools rush in[]

Around 13 ABY, Kijimi Spice Runners fleeing New Republic officers were at the Trune family farm on the Mid Rim planet Yungbrii, and the parents and brother of Sela Trune were killed in the crossfire. As a New Republic Security Bureau officer, Sela Trune investigated the Spice Runners and tracked Vigilch's group to the Outer Rim moon Yavin 4 following a heist on Kellgar Seven on the Outer Rim's fringes^[4] around 18 ABY.^[2] Vigilch, Marinda Gan, Gen Tri, and Zorii Bliss then fled Yavin 4 with the help of Poe Dameron. The sixteen-year-old wanderlust pilot worked with the group across star systems, forming a close bond with Zorii—she kept her past a mystery from Dameron and operated with the name "Zorii Wynn," and she told him that only seasoned Spice Runners could go to Kijimi and that the group had a hierarchy in which positions were earned rather than inherited. The crew flew the Ragged Claw and were based on the Outer Rim planet Sorgan, where they were joined by Tomasso, who had risen to be second only to Zeva Bliss among the Spice Runners.^[4]

After a bloody mission to retrieve Zeva Bliss' helmet, Zorii and Dameron followed Tomasso and moved between Spice Runner safehouses around the Outer Rim, avoiding the New Republic's reach and continuing to execute missions given by Zeva. Zorii, Dameron, and their new droid companion EV-6B6 together freed several enslaved people held by Alfris Sotin after a botched negotiation with the smuggler. While the crew evaded the Guavian Death Gang, who sought to capture Zorii, the latter insisted on leaving Sotin alive and free, clashing with Dameron's idealism against dealing with slave traders and his desire to kill Sotin.^[4] Around 19 ABY,^[2] the captive Marinda Gan had told Sela Trune about Zeva Bliss' plan to hold a summit in Kijimi City, and Trune falsified intelligence that reached Bliss and convinced her that Tomasso was a traitor. After Tomasso and his crew murdered warlord Smaatku and his people to acquire the Letters of Where and When—star maps of secret smuggling routes that would benefit the Kijimi City's spice runners—they were tracked down on the Outer Rim planet Judakann by Poe Dameron's father, Kes, and his friend L'ulo L'ampar.^[4]

While Zorii was shocked and angered by the rebel veterans' intervention, they were all attacked by Judakann's lurkers until the creatures dispersed with the arrival of Zeva Bliss and her Centurion-class battlecruiser. Poe decided to stay with Zorii and promised to eventually return to his father, and he was in turn shocked and angered upon realizing that Zorii was Zeva's daughter. Zeva declared that both he and Zorii had both earned their place as full members of the Spice Runners and took them to her ship, bound for Kijimi. The leader also killed Tomasso in the belief that he had been betraying her as a New Republic spy for months.^[4]

Honor among thieves?[]

"Here-here, sit with Babu. Chat-chat."
[Sighs]
"Wow-wow, says many that sound, eh? You home, but frowns, no joy I see. Busy busy, much to do. Zorii-Z, special to Babu. But not much time. Work is everywhere, yeah-yeah."

―Babu Frik and Zorii Bliss, following the latter's return to the city^[4]

After returning to her home city, Zorii Bliss visited the Spice Runners' master droidsmith, Babu Frik, at his workshop. Bliss appreciated being able to share her thoughts with her friend given that she had been summoned to meet her mother later that day, and the young woman pondered her destiny among the Spice Runners and spoke about her suspicions that Poe Dameron was not truly committed to them. While Babu Frik asserted that Zorii would always be a Spice Runner and also Zeva's daughter, the droidsmith also asked Zorii to contemplate who she was should Dameron leave. Zorii then asked Babu Frik to repair EV-6B6—despite being broken apart on Judakann, the droid's parts were recovered by Dameron at the scene, and Zorii had noticed Dameron secretly attempting to fix the droid in his first few nights in her home city.^[4]

Zorii took Dameron to Babu Frik's workshop and introduced her two friends to each other. Having walked along the city streets carrying EV's parts, Dameron was surprised that Babu Frik was an Anzellan droidsmith and deeply appreciated that Zorii took note of his efforts with the droid—particularly her gesture of bringing him to her old friend—and the pair kissed as though they were sharing their nights together on Sorgan. Babu Frik managed to restore EV-6B6 despite the difficult fix and returned her to the younger Spice Runners.^[4]

Zeva Bliss spoke with her daughter about their future in a Kijimi battle room. The Spice Runner leader spoke of Tomasso as a brother whom she had trusted and her plans to elevate the group to galactic prominence. Zeva formally made Zorii her new second-in-command and relayed her wish to eventually pass the mantle of Spice Runner leader on to her daughter. As Zorii and her mother held the latter's helmet together, the younger Bliss sensed a quiet presence behind her and made eye contact with Poe Dameron, who had been secretly witnessing the conversation. After a few weeks, Dameron found that he and Zorii were becoming evermore emotionally distant despite working together in Kijimi City alongside EV-6B6. Meanwhile, the head of New Republic Intelligence Tolo Mandah ordered Sela Trune to suspend her investigation of the Spice Runners of Kijimi due to the government's outstretched resources, but Trune decided to visit Kijimi City by herself.^[4]

Zeva Bliss was organizing the Kijimi summit, inviting allies and enemies in the criminal underworld to the war room of the city's Dai Bendu Monastery—her true plan was to trap and murder the attendees, a culmination of many years' work setting up the Spice Runners as a significant group in the galactic underworld. While Spice Runners who had pledged personal allegiance to Zeva were called to witness and guard the event at the coliseum outside the chamber, Zorii was assigned to pull the trigger with Dameron and EV in tow.^[4]

Poe Dameron realized the injustice of the planned mass murder and refused to commit to the plan, which infuriated Zorii Bliss, who declared that Dameron "either help us or you're against us" and threatened to kill him. The pair fought against each other until EV incapacitated Bliss, though they realized that the Zorii had already sent the activation signal, with laser cannons at the monastery destroying the gathered criminals' vessels. Zeva's guards pushed the criminals out of the war room through a doorway to the field outside, where Zeva's followers sat in the former coliseum. Expecting an execution, the scene transformed into mayhem as Dameron gave a cache of weaponry to the captive criminals while Sela Trune arrived with her ship, setting its cannons between the coliseum's masses and Zeva Bliss.^[4]

Change of heart[]

Bliss and Trune dueled and the New Republic agent gained the advantage, telling the Spice Runner leader that Tomasso had actually been a loyal deputy and that Bliss had been misinformed. Deeply hurt but unbowed, Bliss mortally stabbed Trune. Although EV-6B6 was destroyed amidst the chaos, Dameron saw Trune and ran toward her, learning that the New Republic officer was motivated by vengeance for her own family but also wanted to prevent Dameron's family from being destroyed. Dameron began shooting at Bliss, and despite his bravado, the man was bested by the pirate leader. Zorii Bliss rescued him by jumping into the melee against her mother, calling on Dameron to help "salvage" their relationship and reshape the Spice Runners after deposing Zeva. Dameron chose not to help Zorii as she dueled her mother, and the young woman's affection for Dameron turned into utter rage, raging against his betrayal and telling him to "run" and never to return.^[4]

Poe Dameron ran away from the monastery and found Tarand Crowe, one of the smugglers who had been gathered at the coliseum. Crowe directed him to a house in the city belonging to Von Tante, who nursed Dameron for a few days before sending him on his way, wary that the Spice Runners were scouring the city for the man. Aiming to board a docked ship in the city on the following day, Dameron visited Babu Frik to inform the droidsmith of EV-6B6's demise and also to seek help. As a loyal member of the Spice Runners, Babu Frik refused to lend help—though he did remind Dameron that he was a trained thief, presented a holographic disguise matrix, and ran out of his workshop. The disguised Dameron decided to enjoy one more meal in Kijimi City, enjoying a shawda club sandwich in a bar, where he watched a New Republic Senate debate involving Senator Leia Organa. Dameron was reminded of the righteous cause for which his parents had fought alongside Organa, and he had a renewed purpose—to reach and help the senator—as he found passage off-world with Zade Kalliday aboard the Midnight Blade.^[4]

Occupation[]

Rising from the rump of Palpatine's Empire in the Unknown Regions, the First Order raided Kijimi City for years before it initiated its plan to conquer the galaxy in 34 ABY. Taking advantage of the unlikelihood for Kijimi's criminals to petition the New Republic for help, the Order's presence gradually increased as its draconian intentions came to light. The First Order began its galactic conquest after annihilating the New Republic capital in 34 ABY.^[3] The chef Strono Tuggs then toured the galaxy for foodstuff, but he avoided Kijimi given the First Order presence and increasing crime rate in the city. Tuggs expressed regret at skipping Kijimi in The Ultimate Cookbook,^[13] which he published in 35 ABY^[14] with the inclusion of his own Lha-Mi Glacier Bar recipe. The dessert bar was made from ice chiseled from Kijimi's Lha-Mi glacier,^[13] where the Spice Runners hid their cache,^[3] and was sold locally in Kijimi City.^[13] Residents there believed that the long-gone Dai Bendu founders of the city had also invented skordu, an alcoholic drink distilled from a fungus growing in icy caves and crevices high among Kijimi's mountains.^[6] Altitude sickness was said to be cured by the popular Ultra-Ox drink in exchange for another, more pleasurable, form of lightheadedness.^[3]

By the same year,^[2] the Order blockaded major hyperspace routes connecting the wider galaxy with Kijimi, which had an estimated population of 310 million. The First Order's Kijimi garrison dressed to intimidate and imposed martial law under Captain Athewn Ozi, seeking out individuals considered to be "subversives." His army officers directed stormtroopers and snowtrooper patrols with a sense of moral superiority, thinking that the city dwellers believed in nothing and were too preoccupied with holding onto their criminal gains to oppose the First Order. Residents were less than keen with the occupation and held a subtle spirit of dissent.^[3]

StreetsOfKijimi — Thieves' Quarter, originally known as the Quarter of the Beatific

Captain Ozi's subordinates divided Kijimi City into zones that were each managed by a lieutenant, and the troopers made nightly raids in the occupied zones to kidnap children as "recruits" for their Order's stormtrooper program. Scanner craft also shone light and sensor beams over the streets while Urban Assault Triped Transports (UA-TTs) were deployed to more troublesome spots of rebellion. At the time of the crackdown, Thieves' Quarter's most influencial guilds were the Corellian Merchants' Guild, the Lantillian Spacers' Brotherhood, and the Intracluster Gatherers, the latter of which had splintered from the Wandering Star criminal syndicate. Kozinarg Trade Guild members also had exclusive access to their guildhouse in the area for food and lodging.^[3]

Dissent and legacy[]

Zorii Bliss found the First Order's rule by fear and forced disappearances of innocents on Kijimi untenable. She nevertheless suppressed her idealism on the potential for subjugated people to unite and overthrow the oppressive invaders.^[3] When Resistance fighters Rey, Finn, Poe Dameron, C-3PO, and BB-8 on the Outer Rim planet Pasaana struggled to locate the wayfinder of Emperor Palpatine—who had apparently returned to life—Dameron suggested that the group seek out Babu Frik. Frik was a droid mechanic in Kijimi City, and Dameron hoped that he could remove the programming that prohibited C-3PO from translating the Sith language incribed on a blade associated with Palpatine's wayfinder. The Resistance members commandeered the blade owner's starship, the Bestoon Legacy, from Pasaana and were joined by its droid, D-O, as they reached Kijimi City. They were unknowingly being tracked by the Knights of Ren on the Night Buzzard.^[15]

In Kijimi City, the Resistance fighters discreetly traveled as fugitives and were ambushed by Zorii Bliss, who recognized Dameron. She then led them to Babu Frik's workshop in Thieves' Quarter. C-3PO sacrificed his memory of his friends to receive the procedure, which successfully allowed him to say the coordinates of the Emperor's wayfinder, located in the Endor system. As the Resistance members prepared to leave Kijimi, the First Order catched up.^[15] Upon the arrival of the Resurgent-class Star Destroyer Steadfast, the flagship of First Order Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, Captain Ozi entrusted Lieutenant Barok to coordinate Kijimi City's lockdown. Barok used sensor data from the overhead Star Destroyer, which was commanded by Allegiant General Enric Pryde. Snowtrooper squads supported scanner ship patrols and UA-TTs, confidently marching through the streets under the aerial dominance of the Steadfast, and AAL-1971/9.1 Troop Transports shipped additional prisoners and kidnapped "recruits" from the city to the First Order capital ship. Zorii Bliss and Poe Dameron observed the occupying forces from the rooftops of Kijimi City as they discussed their complicated past.^[3]

The Supreme Leader and his Knights of Ren scoured the streets for leads on Resistance activity as well. The Order's soldiers sweeped the city from door to door, though given that the Resistance fighters had kept a low profile, most residents who were interrogated on the streets were honest in confessing ignorance as to the purpose of their search.^[3] Rey sensed that Chewbacca remained alive on the Steadfast, and the crew snuck aboard the vessel using the Bestoon Legacy with the help of a First Order Captain's Medallion that Bliss had gifted to Dameron. With additional support from the First Order's General Armitage Hux, who was spiteful of Kylo Ren, the Resistance rescued Chewbacca and liberated their detained ship, the Millennium Falcon. The Force-bond between Rey, who was aboard the Steadfast, and Ren, who was in Kijimi City, enabled them to confront each other.^[15]

Rey and Kylo Ren's lightsaber duel resulted in some damage to wares in the city and the shattering of the helmet of Darth Vader, which Ren had kept in his chambers on the Steadfast. Although the Supreme Leader realized that the Resistance was on his Star Destroyer, he was unable to prevent their escape aboard the Millennium Falcon. Before they did so, Ren revealed to Rey that she was the granddaughter of Palpatine. Rey continued to be deeply troubled by her heritage as she found the Emperor's wayfinder in the Death Star ruins on the Ocean Moon of Endor, and Kylo Ren left the Steadfast in pursuit of Rey.^[15]

The First Order garrison later issued Protocol 13, withdrawing all troops from Kijimi.^[3] With Kylo Ren having failed to capture Rey and instead accepting his family's love and dedication to the light side of the Force, the resurrected Emperor Palpatine instructed Allegiant General Pryde to select a world on which to demonstrate the power of his hidden Sith fleet on Exegol—Palpatine sent forth the Xyston-class Star Destroyer Derriphan, and Pryde chose Kijimi. The entire planet was destroyed by the Derriphan's superlaser. The Emperor's ambition to forge a "Final Order" was thwarted shortly after at the Battle of Exegol by Resistance forces, aided by citizens of the galaxy. Among the Citizens' Fleet were former residents of Kijimi City, including Zorii Bliss and Babu Frik.^[15]

Behind the scenes[]

Skywalker's Kurosawa city[]

From Kyoto to Casablanca[]

Kijimi City was created for the 2019 sequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker,^[16] first appearing in Kevin Shinick's novel Force Collector—it was published on October 4 of that year as part of the marketing of the film,^[17] which was released on December 19. Kijimi shares its name with a synthesizer from the Black Corporation in Japan—the company posted a picture of The Rise of Skywalker's director J.J. Abrams posing with a Kijimi synthesizer in March, 2019 via Instagram, and the company also mentioned Kijimi and Star Wars in an Instagram post featuring J.J. Abrams and Oscar Isaac, who played Poe Dameron in The Rise of Skywalker, visiting the company in Tokyo on December 9 of that year.^[18]

J.J. Abrams wanted Kijimi as a glimpse of a "village" in a corner of the galaxy to show life under First Order occupation.^[16] He also wanted a part of the film to take place at a snowy setting, becoming interested with research into windy Italian streets. Co-production designer Rick Carter then explored the work of Akira Kurosawa, the Japanese director whose films had inspired George Lucas in the making of Star Wars. Carter's inspiration for Kijimi stemmed from the stone walls of 1958's The Hidden Fortress in particular. Costume director Michael Kaplan instructed concept illustrators to design Kijimi City's residents based on furs. The characters eventually took on Western genre film aesthetics. The Spice Runners were originally planned to appear on a dusty, arid planet but instead were to be introduced on Kijimi during script rewrites;^[19] the Spice Runner leader, Zorii Bliss, would allow The Rise of Skywalker to explore the burden of Poe Dameron's past just as the film explores Finn and Rey's respective pasts.^[16] Thus, eleven months after concept illustrators had started their work on the film production with the Spice Runners, their last assignment was to revisit their designs for a snowy environment. Artist Calum Alexander Watt thought that the Art Deco quality of Zorii Bliss' design proved a good complement to the design of Kijimi City.^[19]

Concept artist Bob Cheshire illustrated the First Order–occupied Kijimi as a walled city with an abundance of square roofs, clad with snow and dotted with warm lights amidst dark and blue shadows cast from the mountain, a couple of towering spire-topped buildings, and city walls. Co-production designer Kevin Jenkins described Kijimi as a "Kurosawa city" that he hoped could be comparable to the work of Ralph McQuarrie, the lead concept artist of Lucas' original trilogy. Adam Brockbank made an illustration of the city gate with similar flagstone aesthetics, and Andrée Wallin painted the city with inset doors intended to provide snow cover, overhead searchlights, and a number of other features—a round door, McQuarrie-style bands around the top of houses, and warm interior lighting from twin windows. Jenkins referred to such features as "Star Wars things" that needed to complement the stacked roofs inspired by Kurosawa's imagery and pictures of Kyoto, the city that served as Japan's former capital.^[19]

Cheshire also experimented with the city's roofs. According to Jenkins, they were the hardest of Kijimi's elements to design, needing to be subtle yet also unusual, and he told Abrams that the "danger is we will end up with Santa roofs in Switzerland." Additional pieces of Cheshire's show regular First Order stormtroopers on Kijimi City's main street, and Cheshire and Jon McCoy also made illustrations of a bar in the city. Other illustrations by Brockbank depict a bar named "Elastic Lady" and a soup kitchen being visited by Finn, Poe Dameron, and BB-8.^[19] According to the artist, the Kijimi bar included in earlier drafts was intended to evoke the tense atmosphere of Nazi Germany—occupied Paris, the capital city of France, during World War II,^[20] and prop designer Matthew Savage made an illustration of musical instruments for Kijimi with the 1942 film Casablanca in mind. Directed by Michael Curtiz and filmed during World War II, the film is set in a bar in the Moroccan city of Casablanca under Nazi-collaborationist French colonial control.^[21] Brockbank also designed a cantina band of robed individuals similar to Japanese komusō flute performers who have their heads covered by large woven baskets.^[22]

Additional changes and photography[]

Brockbank and Cheshire made lighting concepts of Finn, Dameron, BB-8, and C-3PO fleeing the First Order via the city sewers and tunnels, but Abrams changed the sequence to a rooftop chase complete with searcher droids after Zorii Bliss warns that the First Order is approaching. Brockbank also incorporated a scene of the First Order tri-ped walker wreaking havoc on Kijimi City as Finn and Dameron draw their blasters, while Cheshire and Adam Baines illustrated Kijimi's spaceport with stormtroopers capturing Chewbacca in front of the Millennium Falcon and leaving C-3PO behind. Industrial Light & Magic's Christian Alzmann illustrated Kylo Ren seeing Darth Vader's intact helmet on the snow-clad ground of Kijimi City,^[19] and ILM's Michael Sheffels made a digital shot extension for Kijimi City's establishing shot. Sheffels imagined the city as a Japanese zen garden but with glaciers rather than sand raked around rocks, though glaciers did not made it to the screen.^[23]

An early version of The Rise of Skywalker's script features the protagonists encountering a gang of Lanai assassins on the streets of Kijimi. Concept artist Jake Lunt Davies stated that unlike the peaceful Lanai Caretakers depicted in 2017's Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi: "These guys take care of other things…"^[24] An illustration by David Allcock shows an eclipse over Kijimi City,^[19] but Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: The Visual Dictionary states that Kijimi had no moon.^[3]

With the help of a scale paper model set against Allcock's illustration,^[16] the Kijimi City set was built in the 4.3-acre outdoor North Lot of England's Pinewood Studios in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire. Centered around a courtyard were three staircases and thirty building façades, with supervising art director Paul Inglis likening the coordination of "400 construction guys" to running an army. Co-production designer Kevin Jenkins found the crane construction for the "bloody roofs" difficult compared to the walls and windows, and Rosemary Brandenburg led the set's decoration. The Rise of Skywalker's Main Unit shot at the Kijimi set at night from November 26 to December 12 in 2018.^[19] Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey, described the shooting on the set as "absolutely freezing," while Oscar Isaac called the set "one of the wildest I've ever seen."^[16]

At daytime, scenes were shot at Babu Frik's workshop on the nearby B stage,^[19] where prop designers had spent two to three months setting up the shop and its greebles. The rooftop conversation scene between Zorii Bliss and Poe Dameron was filmed on a stage with partly built rooftops against a green screen. For the Spice Runners' Den, Star Wars maestro John Williams played the bartender Oma Tres, and prop designers made fifty-one items representing each film for which the composer had been nominated an Academy Award.^[16] Annie Leibovitz photographed the making of the movie, including Keri Russell posing as Zorii Bliss on the set of Kijimi City.^[25]

Video games[]

Kijimi City is featured in a level of the 2022 video game LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga. Although non-canonical, the game adapts the events of The Rise of Skywalker and the city features detailed architectural elements based on the movie.^[26] Senior environment artist Ben Moseley worked on the rooftop elements with Stuart Niblock as lead environment artist at TT Games.^[27]

Kijimi City is among the open-worlds featured in the 2024 video game Star Wars Outlaws, developed by Massive Entertainment. The team and Lucasfilm Games created the Ashiga Clan for Outlaws, with the game's world director Cloé Hammoud and art director Marthe Jonkers stating that the clan's creation was informed by their close integration with Kijimi City, which has heavy Japanese influences. The directors also said that clan members' designs were inspired by kimonos of the Edo period and color palettes from ukiyo-e woodblock prints.^[28] The Edo period of Japan followed a period of civil wars under the Ashikaga shogunate.