| Hoth | |
|---|---|
| Star Wars location | |
 Hoth and its three natural satellites inThe Empire Strikes Back | |
| First appearance | The Empire Strikes Back |
| Created by | George Lucas |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| In-universe information | |
| Type | Ice planet |
Hoth is anice planet in theStar Warsfictional universe. It first appeared in the1980 filmThe Empire Strikes Back and has also been a setting inStar Wars books and video games.
Hoth is the sixthplanet of a remotesystem of the same name.[1] It is a small,terrestrial planet with three orbitingmoons and blanketed entirely by snow and ice. The freezing climate, although habitable, ismostly too cold for intelligent life to develop. Hoth is home to only a few species, including the towering, predatorywampa, which is the most intelligent creature on the planet, and the gray snow-lizards known astauntauns. Both appear inThe Empire Strikes Back.
| Battle of Hoth | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Galactic Civil War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Rebel Alliance |  Galactic Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Luke SkywalkerLeia OrganaWedge AntillesHan SoloChewbaccaC-3PO |  Darth VaderAdmiral Piett | ||||||
In the 1980 filmThe Empire Strikes Back, Hoth is the home of theRebel Alliance's secret Echo Base, which is partially installed in natural caves formed by giant ice bubbles.[2] The Rebels patrol the planet by riding indigenoustauntauns. At the start of the film,Luke Skywalker and his tauntaun are attacked by awampa. Skywalker eventually escapes and is rescued byHan Solo. When one of theGalactic Empire's probe droids uncovers the base, the Rebels are forced to evacuate. The Empire arrives and deploys ground forces to destroy the base, but the Rebels battle theAT-ATs with ground artillery andsnowspeeders to stall them and effectively evacuate. This conflict is known as theBattle of Hoth.
The original draft ofThe Empire Strikes Back, written byLeigh Brackett, depicted an opening scene with Luke Skywalker on the ridge of an ice planet, though the name "Hoth" was given to the cloud planet at the time (later calledBespin). The draft also depicted Hoth's wampas attacking the Rebel base.[3]
TheHardangerjøkulen glacier nearFinse, Norway, served as the filming location for Hoth inThe Empire Strikes Back. Scenes were filmed in subzero temperatures. For the ground battle scene,miniatures were used on a set that used microscopic glass bubbles and baking soda to mimic the snowy territory.[4]
Hoth has also appeared inStar Wars comics, books, and video games. In the 1983MarvelStar Wars comic "Hoth Stuff!", it is revealed thatWedge Antilles went missing during the Battle of Hoth. In the novelDarksaber (1995), Luke Skywalker and his loverCallista Ming travel to Hoth, where they encounter the same wampa that attacked Luke inEmpire, but he swiftly kills it. InShadows of the Empire, Hoth is one of several settings for Dash Rendar's adventures, including the Battle of Hoth.
The planet appears in theStar Wars: Battlefront series (2004–) as multiplayer maps, and in theLego-themed gamesLego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy (2006) andLego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2007) during the first two-story levels ofEpisode V. It also appears as an explorablehub world in the 2022 gameLego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.
The planet also appears inStar Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy.
Theplanetary attributes of the fictional planet Hoth have been scrutinized for scientific accuracy.Space.com said Hoth most resembled theextrasolar planetOGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb, "With a surface temperature of −364 degrees Fahrenheit (−220 degrees Celsius), it is nearly as frigid asPluto."[5] Bruce Betts ofThe Planetary Society said theasteroid belt near Hoth meant that the planet would have difficulty staying in place. With Hoth being bombarded frequently by asteroids, Betts said it would be unlikely for natural lifeforms (like the wampa and the tauntaun shown in the film) to evolve on the planet.[6]
Jeanne Cavelos theorized inThe Science of Star Wars that the frequency ofmeteoroids bombarding Hoth indicated that the planet was relatively young since in older solar systems, the debris is more cleared out. Since Hoth has complex lifeforms, Cavolos said the planet's age may be older, in the range of several billion years. The author said Hoth could be similar toEarth in age but lack neighboring planets likeJupiter andSaturn to shelter it from meteoroid impacts. She also said with theasteroid belt depicted in the film as close to Hoth that the belt was a likely source for meteoroids. (The asteroid belt itself is unrealistically depicted as being closely clustered, which would normally mean that the asteroids would be reduced to sand-sized rubble over a long enough timespan.)[7]
CJ Miozzi, writing forThe Escapist, said that Hoth was realistic as a single-biome planet (among numerous such planets inStar Wars), citing Jupiter's moonEuropa as a similar example. Miozzi said the planet was depicted in theStar Wars books as being geologically active and having additional smaller lifeforms, includinglichen. The author said lichen on Earth was an important part of thefood chain during winter months but that it could grow back outside these months. With Hoth perpetually iced over, Miozzi said lichen likely would not be sufficient to support a multi-tiered food chain that includes anapex predator, the wampa.[8]
Hoth appears in the theme park attractionStar Tours - The Adventures Continue inDisney's Hollywood Studios inWalt Disney World Resort inOrlando,Florida andDisneyland Park inDisneyland Resort inAnaheim,California.
General Veers: Com-Scan has detected an energy field protecting an area of the sixth planet of the Hoth system.
