Imperial throne room (Death Star I)
The throne room of the first Death Star, also referred to as the Observation Dome, served as the seat of the Galactic Emperor while he was away from Coruscant and the Imperial Palace, as well as a means to oversee the Death Star's construction.
History
Even though Palpatine rarely left his confines within the Imperial Palace within Coruscant, Imperial regulations mandated that a throne room for the Galactic Emperor be built on the first Death Star in the event that he end up visiting the Death Star.
Capture of Rebel leaders
After the High Command of the Rebel Alliance was exposed to the Empire and were detained, they were brought before Palpatine where he sentenced them to be tortured, in order to give him the names of all of the Rebel forces and their allies and then would have them painfully executed in public, to destroy any chances of future revolts. Galen Marek managed to break in to save his friends, also critically injuring Darth Vader in a duel. Palpatine then ordered Galen Marek to kill Vader so he could take Vader's place as Palpatine's apprentice. However, Palpatine tortured Rahm Kota with Force lightning when he attempted to strike Palpatine down to prevent Marek from turning to the Dark Side. Palpatine and Marek then dueled each other via Force abilities, with Palpatine eventually being defeated. Despite facing his death, Palpatine attempted to goad Marek into killing him in order to turn him to the dark side. However, with Kota's help, Marek refused to give in, and sacrificed himself to allow his friends to escape Death Star. As a result of Marek's sacrifice, the Emperor's throne room ended up heavily damaged. It is unknown if the throne room ended up repaired prior to the Death Star's destruction two years later.[1]
Layout
The throne room was situated near one of the convergence arrays of the Concave Dish Composite Beam Superlaser. The entrance to the throne room proper was designated by a circular door with a clock-like lock. The outside area of the throne room was a room with a central pillar with two entry points, similar to the future Death Star II. It also contained lifts. In the center was an energy field that was presumably used as a temporary floor as is was incomplete at the time. The south area contained a hallway leading to the Conclave Dish area, whereas the north led to the inner sanctum, with the east and west sides containing windows. The inner sanctum contained a large dais with a long platform leading to the Emperor's area. A shield could be erected to prevent the Emperor from being attacked, and also as a means to prevent escape from the Emperor. Within the shielded area was an array of monitors, the leftmost monitors apparently monitoring the status of the battle station's core, and the rightmost monitors presumably acting as the communications system between the throne room and the rest of the station.[3] The throne itself was just beyond the shielded area and was seemingly built into the wall. There were also containment field capsules for imprisoning people inside. Imperial Royal Guards as well as Imperial Senate Guards were also present to ensure the Emperor's protection.[1]
Similar to the later Death Star II, it also had a 100-meter tower around the northern pole and included among the amenities a private turbolift and throne with command controls.[4]
Appearances
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (First appearance)
Sources
- Death Star Technical Companion (First mentioned)
- Death Star Technical Companion, Second Edition
- Death Star Owner's Technical Manual
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
- ↑ This is implied by the Aurebesh writing on the monitors, with the leftmost one saying "VERIFY CORE STATUS" and the rightmost one saying "COMM SYSTEM".
- ↑ Star Wars: Imperial Handbook: A Commander's Guide