Coruscant
A
Guide to the Star Wars Universe
by
Bill Slavicsek
Second Edition, Revised and Expanded, 1994
Here
follows an excerpt from the entry for "Coruscant." It
comes only from the Expanded Universe novels and comics, including
"Dark Empire" and Heir to the Empire, and precedes even
the planet's appearance in the Original Trilogy Special Editions.
"Coruscant
is considered the jewel of the Core Worlds. It has been the seat
of galactic government from the start, and though the methods
of governing have changed more than once, Coruscant has remained
constant. The Old Republic built the Senate Hall on this beautiful
world. When the Emperor took power, he added to the Presidential
Palace to create Imperial Palace, a structure that looms over
Senate Hall to this day.
"When
the New Republic wqas formed, its members decided to use Coruscant
the same way the previous governments had. Imperial City, with
its majestic spires and dazzling lights, rests at the base of
the snow-covered Manarai Mountains. Once it was called Galactic
City, but since the Emperor changed the name it has remained Imperial
City.
"It
is said that Coruscant sets the tone of the entire galaxy. Styles
and fads start on this capital world and slowly spread. The level
of culture is unsurpassed anywhere else in the Core or beyond,
and all of the "standard" measurements used throughout
the galaxy are based upon the norms of this planet. Except for
a few isolated melees, Coruscant and its area of the Core remained
unscathed by the Galactic Civil War. Throughout the collapse of
the Old Republic, the time of the Empire, and the rise of the
New Republic, the people of Coruscant knew war and hardship only
by the news they receieved. Most saw the shift of governments
as the changing of the seasons. Who cares who sits on the seats
of power? Coruscant is eternal..."
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Star
Wars: The Annotated Screenplays
by
Laurent Bouzereau
Published by Ballantine Books, 1997
This
book contains the complete screenplays of the films along with
notes concerning what happened in the earlier drafts of the scripts.
The following is taken from the annotations to "Return of
the Jedi." This is the first appearance of what would later
be known of as Coruscant.
"In
the rough draft, after the crawl, a pan down reveals the planet
of Had Abbadon, capital of the Galactic Empire. The planet is
completely covered by cities and is shrouded in a sickly brown
haze."
Here
follows a quote from Ralph McQaurrie, also on the planet:
"'The
Emperor was going to be in a cave surrounded by lava. The throne
room was down in the lower levels of what turns out to be the
Empire's headquarters planet. I imgined it to be dark and spooky
with enormous buildings and a metal surface and, down below, huge
avenues like on Wall Street in Manhattan. George stated that he
wanted a planet that was a city with endless built-up areas. In
my mind it was built a thousand years ago, layer after layer.
The Emperor's office would be at the bottom of it, so far down
that you would have lava."
And finally,
here's a quote from Lucas on the same subject:
"'In
the end it didn't seem necessary to show the home planet of the
Empire. It seemed more important that we focus on the major target
of what we were going after in the movie. So to show Vader and
the Emperor in an area that didn't relate to the story didn't
seem necessary. Of course, I had a million different names for
the home planet of the Empire, but Coruscant came out of publishing.'"
Lucas
doesn't reveal whether the planet of Had Abaddon would also have
served as the capital planet of the Old Republic, but it seems
very likely, especially based on McQaurrie's comments.
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Star
Wars: The Lost Episodes
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