- "This is Gold Leader, we're starting our attack run on the shield gate."
- ―Jon Vander
The Shield Gate was a wheel-shaped Golan M3185 space station placed in orbit around the tropical Outer Rim planet of Scarif by the Galactic Empire. It served as an opening through which Imperial starships could bypass the planet's otherwise impenetrable deflector shield. During the Battle of Scarif, the Rebel Alliance launched a successful assault on the station, allowing them to bypass the shield and attack Scarif's Imperial security complex.
Description[]
- "There's a planet-wide defensive shield with a single main entry gate."
- ―Bodhi Rook
The Shield Gate was an Imperial space station placed in orbit around the planet Scarif, an Imperial world housing the Empire's Imperial Center of Military Research, a research and development site for the Death Star project. The station consisted of a gray, wheel-shaped structure with six adjacently-facing hangar bays that housed many TIE/ln space superiority starfighters.[3]
The gate station's purpose was to allow passage through Scarif's otherwise impenetrable planet-encompassing deflector shield. As Imperial starships and cargo approached, a gate officer that was part of Gate Control would scan the vessel's clearance codes and activate two massive arms that would be lowered in front of the deflector shield generators to create an opening in the center of the station, allowing the vessels access to the planet's atmosphere. In case of an attack to the system, the shield could be sealed just as fast by retracting the arms, allowing the field to flow back and close the opening.[3] The shield's size meant that a shield relay systems operator had to carefully monitor deflector field dynamics in order to prevent dangerous buildup by stellar wind aurorae in the generators.[9]
The Gate station's importance for the ICMR's protection made it a key aspect in Project Stardust's operation; as such it was defended by multiple turbolaser turrets strategically scattered in its surface and accurate enough to track down and destroy starfighter-sized targets. The gate's frame was reinforced and its projectors were so powerful that even multiple hits from proton torpedoes couldn't damage it. The only way to deactivate the field was to destroy the entire station which could be done through a collision with a larger starship.[3]
History[]
- "Close the field aperture now! Close it!"
- ―A gate officer during the Battle of Scarif
Shortly before the Battle of Yavin, as part of their mission to steal the plans to the Empire's planet-destroying superweapon, the Death Star, the Alliance to Restore the Republic launched an assault on Scarif. After Rogue One, led by Jyn Erso, went through the gate to steal the plans from the Citadel Tower, the Alliance sent several T-65B X-wing starfighters to enter the Shield Gate and attack the planet's military installations. Even though the Empire attempted to close the Shield Gate to protect the complex, some of the fighters were able to fly through and attack the base, before the Rebels destroyed the gate and disrupted the planetary shield by hurling two Imperial Star Destroyers into the space station with the Lightmaker.[3] This victory eventually led to the successful theft of the plans and the destruction of the Death Star.[10]
Behind the scenes[]
The Shield Gate was created and developed for the 2016 film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The first footage of the Shield Gate was shown in the second Rogue One trailer on October 13, 2016.
Earlier in Rogue One's production, the Shield Gate was envisioned as a planetary ring that acted as a construction site for Star Destroyers as well as a refueling and resurfacing station for the Empire.[11]
Appearances[]
- Star Wars Battlefront II (Indirect mention only) (DLC)
- Darth Vader Annual 2
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story novelization
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story audiobook
- Star Wars: Rogue One: A Junior Novel
- Star Wars: Rogue One: A Junior Novel audiobook
- Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Graphic Novel Adaptation
- Rogue One Adaptation 5
- Rogue One Adaptation 6
- Star Wars Battlefront (First appearance) (DLC)
- "Grounded" — From a Certain Point of View (Mentioned only)
- "Grounded" — From a Certain Point of View audiobook (Mentioned only)
- Battlefront II: Inferno Squad (Indirect mention only)
- Battlefront II: Inferno Squad audiobook (Indirect mention only)
Sources[]
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Starships and Speeders
- ↑ "Scarif and Other Planets in the Outer Rim" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
- ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 Rogue One: A Star Wars Story
- ↑ Entertainment Weekly's Ultimate Guide to Rogue One
- ↑ Rogue One: A Star Wars Story establishes that the Shield Gate is in orbit of Scarif, which Star Wars: The Galactic Explorer's Guide places in the area of space identified as the Slice.
- ↑ Where in the Galaxy Are the Worlds of Rogue One? on StarWars.com (article) (backup link)
- ↑ The "Where in the Galaxy Are the Worlds of Rogue One?" map shows Scarif in the same grid position as Ukio and Molavar, which were shown by the Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game to be located in sector S-15.
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide
- ↑ Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- ↑ Designing an Empire: Doug Chiang on Imperial Architecture in Rogue One on StarWars.com (backup link)
External links[]
- 'Rogue One: A Star Wars Story' - 15 new photos! on Entertainment Weekly (backup link) (First identified as Shield Gate)