Galactic Roundel

Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi. You're my only hope.

This article is in need of referencing per Wookieepedia's sourcing guidelines.

This article needs appropriate citations. Help us improve this article by referencing valid resource material. Remove this notice when finished.

The Galactic Roundel, also known as the Emblem of the Galactic Republic, the Republic insignia, or the Insignia of Unity, was an eight-rayed stellar symbol centered in a circle whose circumference was made up of dashed lines. The Galactic Roundel was one of many seals of the Galactic Republic.

History

The Galactic Roundel dates back thousands of generations to the Bendu monks. In their study of numerology, they believed that the number nine signified the beneficent presence of the Force in a united galaxy. The insignia was meant to represent the number nine with its eight spokes joined to one disc.^[1] The Tho Yor were also decorated with symbols reminiscent of the Galactic Roundel. As the Jedi were founded from the Bendu, the Insignia of Unity was eventually adopted to become the symbol of the Galactic Republic.

During the Old Sith Wars the Republic used a nine-spoke symbol and put it on their ships.

During the rise of the Empire, Palpatine would change the Galactic Roundel by the removal of two spikes; the resulting icon was the Imperial crest.

At the end of the Galactic Civil War, the New Republic reinstated the Old Republic's Galactic Roundel, but due to its similarity to the Imperial Crest, it was not widely adopted as an official symbol and the Alliance Starbird all but supplanted it.