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- "You have to hold on more tightly."
"But you are a delicate child—my grip will harm you. And I don't want to jumble my papers."
"Falling off the bike will do a lot worse than that." - ―Merei Spanjaf and Holshef[1]
Jedi Knight Azlin Rell frantically writes upon the paper of his personal journal.
Paper was a material upon which documents could be written or printed. It was considered an outdated form of communication by theHigh Republic Era.
Description[]
A datapad (pictured) was a more common medium of writing than paper or flimsiplast.
Paper was formed from pulp via a process. Upon its completion, paper could be written on or printed upon, such as by usage of aprinting press. By thetime of theHigh Republic Era[2] and heading into thereign of theGalactic Empire[3] andthat of theNew Republic,[4] the existence ofbooks with ink printed on paper,[3] let alone the usage of paper as a way to write a message,[4] was relatively rare inthe galaxy.[3] Indeed, even knowing someone who made paper was a rare feat by the High Republic Era.[2] By the time of theFirst Order-Resistance War, paper was considered a primitive material.[5] During the High Republic Era, the ability to make paper was considered byChild of the Open HandYana Ro to be a throwback to a bygone era.[2]Flimsiplast was another material in the galaxy that could be written upon. While more common than paper in the Imperial Era,[3] even flimsiplast was seen as an outdated medium compared to writing upon adatapad.[6]
History[]
Ancient history[]
- "Ryloth has never had much in the way of resources, and whatever they had was traditionally taken away from them by either the Niktos or the Hutts. They learned that if they wanted to preserve their own version of their history, this was the only way they could do it. We have to respect that, even if it makes our jobs harder."
- ―Leia Organa, speaking during the New Republic, on Ryloth's use of paper and other written materials[4]
Wide-scale usage of paper[4] occurred in a bygone era[2] that predated the days of even theOld Republic. TheRyloth archives inLessu,capitalcity of the planetRyloth, made extensive use of paper instead of technology such ascomputers orholograms. Such was because Ryloth, itself never a world with many resources to its name, lost whatever wealth it did secure to factions like theNiktos andHutts. As such, the nativeTwi'leks were forced to use paper—along with other printed or written forms of communication in the form of writing upon tanned hides, wooden tablets, or rolls—to maintain their historical record.[4]
Republic Era[]
Pages are torn from Azlin Rell's personal journal
During theHigh Republic Era, some of theElders of thePath of the Open Handcult knew how to make paper out of pulp as a throwback to the days in which paper had been used more commonly. The Path also owned aprinting press.[2] In382 BBY[7] ahead of theBattle of Dalna, the Path produced paper leaflets outlining theiranti-Jedi beliefs and attempted to hand those pamphlets out to their fellow residents of theplanetDalna.Child of the Open HandYana Ro was very surprised to see paper in use.[2] After the battle,Jedi KnightAzlin Rell began to compose ajournal about theNameless[8] that used paper, much to the surprise ofJediPadawanMatthea Cathley, who could only guess he recovered it from the Path's printing press.[2]
In231 BBY,[9]Xylan Graf of the wealthy and esteemedGraf family, delivered a message toSylvestri Yarrow on paper. Yarrow thought that Graf was showing off his wealth by using paper to deliver the message.[10] During theNihil conflict between theNihil and theGalactic Republic, Rell's old journal about the Nameless became a subject of interest to both theEye of the NihilMarchion Ro,[8] who unleashed the Nameless against the Jedi,[11] and the Jedi themselves.[8]
Imperial and New Republic Eras[]
- "RUN."
- ―The message on the paper streamer left atop Leia Organa's plate ahead of the Napkin Bombing[4]
Agent Alexsandr Kallus (pictured) was surprised to see physical books made using paper.
AgentAlexsandr Kallus of theImperial Security Bureau was surprised to observe books with paper on the bookshelves ofCaptainZataire on theLawbringer.[3]Holshef, an elderlyhumanmalepoet, wrote his poems on paper. During his time in hiding from the Galactic Empire for his rebelliousartistic expressions, he accumulated massive piles of papers of his poetry. He was later forced to flee with only a week's worth of writings. During a wild chase on ajumpspeeder, many of these blew away and one of them blinded abounty hunter that was chasing him andMerei Spanjaf, resulting in a fatal accident.[1]
Virtually no being in the galaxy physically wrote on paper by the time of the New Republic Era.[4] By28 ABY,[7]Leia Organa, who served as asenator in theNew Republic Senate and within theImperial Senate before it, had not seen handwritten words done with ink in years. The only exception had been that which was written on historical documents she saw. However, in that year, a physical paper streamer with the word "RUN" written in ink was left on her plate ahead of a breakfast in thesenate conference building, warning her of the soon-to-be-dubbedNapkin Bombing. Later, when Organa and her retinue investigated the Ryloth archives, they were dismayed to learn that the material in the archives was all either written or printed on paper, tanned hides, wooden tablets or rolls, feeling as if they were in the days before the Old Republic. All the same, Organa made it clear to her staff they needed to respect the usage of such materials because they had been some of the only ways for the people of Ryloth to maintain their histories.[4]
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Behind the scenes[]
- "Paper has been in the mix for decades, but it's long been suggested to be rare and outdated by modern standards."
- ―Pablo Hidalgo, on paper in theStar Wars universe[12]
WithinStar Wars: Episode IIIRevenge of the Sith, a background extra appearing as aJedi Templetechnician uses a physical clipboard with paper as their prop, something thatPablo Hidalgo of theLucasfilm Story Group noted would be rare in theStar Wars universe. In his tweet on the subject, Hidalgo noted the rare occurrence but did not confirm if, in-universe, the object was supposed to be paper or flimsiplast.[13] Instead, he noted the clipboard, along with its paper, was likely just an off-the-shelf prop given out with speed in mind and urged fans not to read too far into the clipboard's appearance.[14]
Appearances[]
Sources[]
Star Wars Helmet Collection 36Databank A-Z: Cut Lawquane–Lothal- Star Wars: Smuggler's Guide
- Inside the Lucasfilm Archive: The Jedi Texts onStarWars.com(backup link)
- "Database" —Star Wars - Das offizielle Magazin 96
- Welcome to the Worlds ofStar Wars: Skeleton Crew: An Interview with Doug Chiang and Oliver Scholl onStarWars.com(backup link)
Notes and references[]
- ↑1.01.1Servants of the Empire: The Secret Academy
- ↑2.02.12.22.32.42.52.6The High Republic: Path of Vengeance
- ↑3.03.13.23.33.4Star Wars Rebels: The Rebellion Begins
- ↑4.04.14.24.34.44.54.64.7Bloodline
- ↑Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: A Junior Novel
- ↑"Any Work Worth Doing" —From a Certain Point of View: Return of the Jedi
- ↑7.07.1Star Wars: Timelines
- ↑8.08.18.2The High Republic: The Edge of Balance: Precedent
- ↑Star Wars: Timelines dates the events ofThe High Republic: Out of the Shadows to231 BBY.
- ↑The High Republic: Out of the Shadows
- ↑The High Republic: Eye of the Storm 2
- ↑
Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) onTwitter (post):"Paper has been in the mix for decades, but it's long been suggested to be rare and outdated by modern standards."(backup link) - ↑ Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) onTwitter (post):"Thing I noticed at this week's Revenge of the Sith screening. The background technician with the clipboard with actual paper on it, in what is ordinarily a pretty paperless universe. Good thing the EU invented "flimsiplast" as a paper stand-in."(backup link)
- ↑ Pablo Hidalgo (@pablohidalgo) onTwitter (post):"This is likely just an off-the-shelf "prop" given how deep in the background it is, so don't expect a big Visual Dictionary spread on the Jedi clipboard. I know from firsthand experience these shoots are done with expediency in mind. The lanterns at Padme's funeral were these:(Original Tweet URL lost, but content available via archive of prior Tweet)"(backup link)