By George Bate & Josh Bate
If you’re like us, Star Wars visual dictionaries and guides have been a core feature of your fandom for years. Each is a comprehensive reference guide providing so many neat and insightful details about characters, locations, items, and more from a galaxy far, far away.
Recently published by DK Publishing, Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide takes a deep dive into the era between Episodes III and IV in which the Empire came to power. This new visual guide, written by Pablo Hidalgo and Emily Shkoukani, features information from Disney+ series Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and The Bad Batch in addition to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and other stories set during the era of Imperial reign.
Here are some of our favorite facts we learned from Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide!
The Clone Trooper begging on the streets of Daiyu in Obi-Wan Kenobi Part II is named Nax. According to the visual guide, Nax fought in various notable Clone Wars battles, including Teth, Umbara, and Christophsis. The latter planet was the primary setting of 2008’s Star Wars: The Clone Wars film.
Obi-Wan’s eopie in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series is the same one he rode on at the end of Revenge of the Sith.
The visual guide details that Palpatine’s “ultimate foe is death itself,” explaining that “he spends much time in the depths of the former Jedi Temple deciphering troves of forbidden knowledge in his search for the true path to immortality.” This interest of Darth Sidious has been explored in various Star Wars stories, but features most prominently in The Rise of Skywalker when Palpatine attempts to achieve longevity through his granddaughter Rey.
As a young girl living on Alderaan, Leia kept a doll resembling a Wookiee in her bedroom. This came about after Leia had “an impressionable meeting with a Wookiee.” Leia’s Wookiee doll is mentioned in the comic Hyperspace Stories 2.
The motivation of Kawlan Roken (played by O’Shea Jackson Jr.) to fight the Empire is revealed in the visual dictionary. It states that Roken had fallen in love with a Force-sensitive woman, who was killed at the hands of Inquisitors. This injustice inspired Roken to join the Hidden Path in their fight to take down the Empire.
In Part I of Obi-Wan Kenobi, the titular Jedi works harvesting meat from a sand whale in the depths of Tatooine desert. The visual guide identifies these sand whales as Tibidons. Uniquely, their design comes from an unused concept for The Empire Strikes Back by Ralph McQuarrie for a flying whale.
Fans who have read Star Wars Adventures: Tales from Vader’s Castle may already recognize these troopers, but we had to point them out. They’re just so cool! The visual guide details Lava Troopers, also known as volcanic environment stormtroopers, who are tasked with protecting Fortress Vader on Mustafar.
Cassian Andor once served as a cook for the Empire on the planet Mimban. This is the same mud planet that Han Solo met Chewbacca on in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
BSEMO, the Andor family droid, was manufactured by Cybot Galactica. C-3PO was built by Anakin Skywalker using scrap parts from Cybot Galactica droids.
Last but not least…our favorite fact of Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide. “Short hair aids Ezra’s concentration.”
