Star Wars Galactic Atlas Reveals New Details on Saw Gerrera’s Secret Base on Jedha and More

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The new Star Wars Galactic Atlas has already been released in Europe. For some reason, this book will not be released in the United States until after Rogue One hits theaters, so we decided to share this for our readers in the US. There are no ground-breaking revelations from the Atlas, but it does have 2  really cool pages dedicated to Jedha, revealing several new bits of information about the small desert moon.

 

 

MILD SPOILERS

 

 

Before we dive into the new bits, here’s what we know about Jedha according to Wookieepedia:

Jedha was a small desert moon located in the Jedha system of the galaxy’s Inner Rim, which had a cold climate due to its lasting winter, and an atmosphere that was breathable to its human population. The ancient world of Jedha was home to one of the first civilizations to explore the nature of the Force, was considered a spiritual home of the Jedi, and the Temple of the Whills was located on the moon. Some scholars made a case for Jedha as the location of the Jedi Order’s first temple, alongside other candidate worlds, such as Ahch-To, Coruscant, Ossus, and Tython. As a result, the moon became a holy land for those who followed the Force and a place that one would go on a pilgrimage.

 

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Subsequent to the fall of the Jedi Order and the Galactic Republic, its successor state – the Galactic Empire – occupied Jedha for possession of the resources that once served the Jedi Order as lightsaber component material. Under the rule of the Empire, the timeworn streets of Jedha were patrolled by stormtroopers, Imperial Assault Hovertanks, and AT-STs. The Imperial oppression later led to the formation of a resistance, coordinated by the Rebel veteran Saw Gerrera who preferred brutal tactics. Some time before the Battle of Yavin, Rebel soldiers Cassian Andor and Jyn Erso undertook a mission to Jedha to secure a member of the resistance group. At some point, the first Death Star – the Empire’s deep-space mobile battle station capable of destroying entire planets fired its superlaser at the moon.

 

The two most interesting locations on Jedha are the Temple of the Whills and Saw Gerrera’s secret base. The Galactic Atlas gives a good look at these two.

 

Many of you have probably already figured that the Temple of the Whills is actually the huge building that we’ve seen located in one of the cities from the trailer (see the two images above). Actually, the Atlas reveals that the temple is located in the so called Holy City, which sits atop a natural mesa like many of the settlements on Jedha (click on the images for bigger version):

 

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The other interesting info that the Atlas reveals is about Saw Gerrera’s secret base on Jedha:

Extremist rebel Saw Gerrera has spent his life fighting guerrilla warfare against first the Separatists and now the Empire. Mistrusted by the Rebel Alliance, he believes violence is the only way to achieve victory. His hidden base on Jedha was once used to store the skeletal remains of the death.

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Also, the Atlas reveals that Saw’s hideout is hidden beneath the ancient ruin (pictured below):

 

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Saw definitely displays an interesting taste in home decor – keeping the dream alive by surrounding himself with the most despondent imagery imaginable. This is an interesting choice for a base location. I can’t wait to see the depiction of it on the big screen.

 

 

Another interesting bit is that the Atlas directly mentions Kyber crystals in its description about Jedha. Until now all sources were referring to the Kyber crystals as components or resources that the Jedi use in their lightsabers:

 

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We also get a better look at some of the pilgrims on Jedha and the Stormtroopers patrolling the chilly sands atop the cool looking long-legged mounts.:

 

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Finally, as we mentioned before the Atlas also gives a brief descriptions on Chirrut Imwe and Baze Malbus:

 

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These are just two pages from this magnificent book (there is nothing else from Rogue One). As you can see the art is really fantastic and I would recommend it to any Star Wars fan. The book has multiple maps, star charts and battle scenes depicted in great ways. You can watch a trailer for this release here:

 

 

 

If you live in Europe, you can order a copy from Amazon UK. On Amazon USA the book will be available on December 20.

 

 

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Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.

Born on April 24, 1980.

Val Trichkov (Viral Hide)

Founder of SWNN, MNN and The Cantina forums.Born on April 24, 1980.

19 thoughts on “Star Wars Galactic Atlas Reveals New Details on Saw Gerrera’s Secret Base on Jedha and More

  • November 17, 2016 at 7:03 pm
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    This looks really awesome. Maybe you guys could provide a priority list of the books coming out for Rogue One and what books info overlaps others. I don’t have the funds to buy them all but it would be nice to get the cream of the crop.

    • November 17, 2016 at 7:21 pm
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      Good suggestion. I wasn’t planning to buy this, but I didn’t realize it would explore the lore this deeply.

    • November 17, 2016 at 8:46 pm
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      I’ve not been a fan of most of the books I’ve read (liked Lost Stars but Aftermath, Life Debt, Twilight Company, Bloodline were all pretty meh at best) but Catalyst is great so far (27% in).

      • November 18, 2016 at 7:11 pm
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        Listening to Catalyst now; very political but it struck me while they outlined the now canon history of how the Death Star was constructed that even in Legends, there wasn’t very much detail about this.

        • November 18, 2016 at 7:21 pm
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          How’s the audiobook? I almost went for that but got the Kindle at the last instant.

          • November 18, 2016 at 7:31 pm
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            Good. They’re so expensive. I never did audio before but I drive a lot in my job and I was like, I can do this.

            It was like 31 bucks. It’s more than a blu-ray. I sprung for it. The dude who narrates it does a really good job.

          • November 18, 2016 at 7:33 pm
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            Yeah, I never listened to one before. I listen to a ton of podcasts though (commuting on my bike) and I have friends who swear by it.

          • November 18, 2016 at 8:04 pm
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            Yeah I do too, especially now that we’re all grown ups. By a significant margin, so I thought I’d try it. I’d recommend it. Just the cost. A normal audio book on Audible seems to run around 13 or 14 bucks. 31-35 for Star Wars 😛 Granted the narrators do different voices and there’s music and sound effects but still. That sucks.

          • November 18, 2016 at 11:28 pm
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            As a guy who listens to a TON of audio books – I’d recommend you go to Audible. You can download the audio books as many times as you want, and you just pay like $16/month for a “credit” which can be used on basically any audio book. You don’t own the CDs for the book, but I currently have about 6 full audio books on my phone with plenty of other room.

            Audible also has deals where you can buy 3 credits for $33 and such. I own all of the new SW canon books on Audible. Probably the best way to go if you like audio books. haha, sorry to gush, just wanted to let you know about it so you aren’t paying ridiculous prices every time.

  • November 17, 2016 at 7:13 pm
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    Tython and Ossus are Canon! I’m so happy right now.

  • November 17, 2016 at 7:17 pm
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    This looks glorious!

  • November 17, 2016 at 7:45 pm
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    Really love the look and palette of colours of those illustrations. Great!

  • November 17, 2016 at 9:55 pm
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    Channeling Salvador Dali on those “Mounts”. Can’t wait to see those things walking around.

  • November 17, 2016 at 10:01 pm
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    It will be interesting to see what about the Whills becomes cannon as they expand on them more in this movie. In Legends R2-D2 describes the adventures of the Skywalker family to the Keeper of the Whills to record it in the Journal of the Whills 100 years after the Battle of Endor. Get chills thinking about R2-D2 still on adventures 100 years after Endor when all of the characters we know and love have moved on. What adventures could R2 be getting into all those years later? Would make a killer R2 stand-alone movie or a possible new Star Wars trilogy.

    • November 26, 2016 at 3:56 am
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      They already had the Journal quoted in the TFA novelization. In this Galactic Atlas, there’s also a reference to the maps in-universe being ancient. So the university mentioned at the start of the book, is operating hundreds or thousands of years after the end of the Saga films. I thought that was cool.

  • November 18, 2016 at 6:08 am
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    Those hooded figures… my connection to knights of Ren?

  • November 18, 2016 at 10:42 am
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    “… the so called Holy City, which sits atop a natural mesa …”

    Drat, I couldn’t even read the innocent word “mesa” in a Star Wars context without having bad associations!

  • November 18, 2016 at 2:30 pm
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    Will we see a very young lor san tekka??

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