Grand Corridor
The Grand Corridor, also known as the Grand Reception Hall, was the hub of all activity within the Imperial Palace on Coruscant.
History
The Grand Corridor was a massive concourse that wrapped around the Coruscant Imperial Palace, connecting to many of the Palace's main areas via hallways or turbolifts. Designed by Emperor Palpatine himself, the hall was built to serve as a hub of activity for the Galactic Empire's many functionaries and dignitaries.[1]
When the New Republic liberated Coruscant and ousted the Imperials, the new government took the Palace and began using it as the headquarters of all government activity on the planet. Unbeknownst to the Republic leaders, Palpatine's secret spy network called Delta Source, a tool he had long used against his own people, was still active and in working order. Once the Republic discovered the information leak, officials quickly removed the ch'hala trees that were supplying the data, and the Palace became safe again.[3]
The Grand Corridor remained in good condition during the reign of the New Republic until the invasion of Coruscant by the Yuuzhan Vong. The Palace would be reduced to rubble when Chief of State Borsk Fey'lya detonated a massive explosion in the upper levels, raining rubble upon the Corridor.[2]
Layout
A cavernous hall that ringed the Palace proper's first several levels, the Grand Corridor was a mass of carved black stone and red-tinted cutglass windows. Open to the public and the hub of all activity in the Palace, the Corridor was large enough to accommodate a Victory Star Destroyer and was personally designed by Emperor Palpatine himself. The corridor held a number of cafes and beverage stands, lining both the ground level and upper balconies that peered out from the inner walls of the hall. Planted at intervals along the walls was a grove of ch'hala trees, apparently for decorative purposes but actually a sinister tool that enabled the effectiveness of Palpatine's secret spy network known as Delta Source. The vibration-sensitive bark of the trees would transmit data to a secret location that would decipher the conversations held in the hall and relay any state secrets or plots back to the Emperor himself.[1]
Appearances
- "First Impressions" — Star Wars Tales 15
- X-Wing: Wedge's Gamble
- Heir to the Empire (First appearance)
- Dark Force Rising (First identified as Grand Corridor)
- Dark Force Rising audiobook (First identified as Grand Corridor)
- The Last Command
- The Last Command audiobook
- The New Jedi Order: Balance Point
Sources
- The Last Command Sourcebook
- Shadows of the Empire Sourcebook
- The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook
- The Official Star Wars Fact File 1 (COR3, Coruscant)
- Coruscant and the Core Worlds
- The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia