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Iron Tower

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This article details a subject that falls under the Legends continuity.

Iron Tower

General information

Destroyed

0 ABY^[1](partially)^[2]

Location

Aridus^[1]

Builder(s)

Galactic Empire^[3]

Chronological and political information

Affiliation

Galactic Empire^[1]

"The Iron Tower is the greatest symbol of Imperial tyranny on Aridus! While it operates…the Chubbits are being steadily destroyed!"

―An Obi-Wan Kenobi impersonator^[1]

TheIron Tower was an automatedpower transformer andsignal amplifier constructed by theGalactic Empire on theplanet Aridus to overcome the intense interference generated by its ionizedatmosphere. However, its powerful emanations had crippling effects on thenervous systems of thenative Chubbits, forcing them totake up arms against the Empire. It wasdisabled and partially destroyed as a result of the sacrifice of aman impersonatingJedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who wasfatally injured by the ensuing explosion.

Description[]

"Atmospheric conditions on Aridus make long-range communication impossible…"
"The Iron Tower is something the Empire built to overcome that, Ben?"
"It's a gigantic power transformer and signal amplifier, Luke… totally automated. Without it… their hovertrain ore transport system couldn't function. But the ultra-strong frequency of its signals has a devastating effect on the native Chubbits… crippling their nervous systems… in time, fatally!"

―An Obi-Wan Kenobi impersonator and Luke Skywalker^[1]

The Iron Tower was an automated structure that functioned as a massivepower transformer andsignal amplifier,^[1] allowing theGalactic Empire unrestricted communications and supplying energy to run itshovertrain^[4] ore transport system. Its control chamber could be accessed viaturbolift or emergency stairwell. While the Iron Tower had automated defenses, including deathtrap mechanisms such as death beams, it was also protected byImperial patrol speeders.^[1] The area immediately surrounding the tower^[4] was theplanet Aridus'mining region,^[1] the location of hazardouslava pits.^[4]

History[]

The upper levels of the Iron Tower are destroyed

"The Iron Tower was atrap set by Darth Vader…but this man caused it tobackfire!"

―Luke Skywalker, in reference to an Obi-Wan Kenobi impersonator^[1]

When Imperialscouts located valuable natural resources on Aridus, Imperial mining teams rushed to exploit them. However, the ionizedatmosphere^[3] resulting from the planet's magnetic fluctuations generated intense interference^[2] that wreaked havoc with the tunneling equipment^[3] and made all long-range communications impossible.^[4] The miningforeman pleaded withhis superiors to authorize the construction of a massive power transformer and signal amplifier; otherwise, operations on Aridus would have to be scrapped. Anxious to protect his investment, the^[3]Narvath sector's^[5]Moff approved construction of the Iron Tower, a monumental structure that could punch its signal through any interference.^[3]

Mining resumed, and Imperial hovertrains began ferrying workers to the dig sites. However, the Imperials never stopped to consider what effect the Iron Tower might have on thenative Chubbits. They quietly watched as the Empire ravaged their world, but the new structure was alethal threat.^[3] Its ultra-strong signal frequencies^[1] had crippling effects on the Chubbitnervous system, and they were forced totake up arms for their continued survival, while theAlliance to Restore the Republic gladly supplied weapons to their cause.^[3]

In theyear 0 ABY,^[1]months after theBattle of Yavin,^[6] theSith Lord Darth Vader sent a trainedactor impersonating Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, who Vader hadkilled aboard theDeath Star, to take control of the Chubbit resistance as part of a plot to captureLuke Skywalker. Vader had the impostor lure Skywalker to the Iron Tower, under the guise ofdestroying the structure, which the impostor described as "the greatest symbol of Imperial tyranny on Aridus". Once there, the actor was ordered by Vader to meet him in the control chamber in order to lure Skywalker there by pretending to be hurt. However, the impersonator refused due to his respect for Kenobi^[1] and pulled a control level,^[3] the tower's overload circuits,^[1] to start a catastrophic overload spiral in the structure's upper levels,^[3] but not before summoning Skywalker'sship with anemergency directional beacon.^[1]

He and theSith were caught in the resulting explosion,^[1] which disabled^[3] and partially destroyed the Iron Tower.^[2] Skywalker arrived in the control chamber after the destruction ceased and cradled the fatally injured man in his arms as he confessed that he was just an impostor who came to love his part. After the impersonator's death, Skywalker's ship arrived and he departing Aridus.^[1] Meanwhile, the blast nearly killed Vader, who was rendered unconscious for a period oftime. He was found byWrenga Jixton, a former ImperialGunnery Sergeant who befriended the local Chubbits while in hiding from the Empire on Aridus, who brought him aboard hisstarship. Knowing that Vader's death would only draw more Imperial forces to the planet, he offered the Sith a deal; in exchange for keeping the Empire away from Aridus, Jixton would do anything he commanded, which Vader accepted.^[7]