Coruscant
Coruscant is an ecumenopolis planet in the fictional universe of Star Wars. It was first described in Timothy Zahn's 1991 novel Heir to the Empire. The planet made its first on-screen appearance in a scene added to Return of the Jedi for its 1997 re-release. It has since become an important location in the Star Wars universe and appears frequently in Star Wars media.
In-universe, Coruscant is a politically and strategically important planet, serving as the capital and seat of government for the Republic and the Galactic Empire, as well as the headquarters of the Jedi Order. It is depicted as a bustling, yet highly stratified planet-spanning metropolis. Throughout the city's centuries-long development, new city blocks were built on top of old ones, forming levels. Coruscant has 5127 levels, with the top being the wealthiest and the lowest being the poorest.
Coruscant has four moons and is the sixth planet out of the eleven that make up the system of the same name. It lies within the Coruscant Subsector of the Corusca Sector, located in the Core Worlds galactic quadrant region. The sun, Coruscant Prime, is the zero coordinate of the Star Wars galaxy. In Legends, Coruscant was once referred to as Notron or Queen of the Core. It was renamed Imperial Center during the reign of the Galactic Empire and Yuuzhan'tar during the Yuuzhan Vong invasion. Initially, the planet's capital city was Galactic City. It was Imperial City under the Galactic Empire and was Republic City under the Galactic Republic. The planet was code-named Triple Zero during the Clone Wars. The demonym and adjective form of the planet's name is Coruscanti.
Many native citizens of Coruscant speak with the Received Pronunciation accent.
Etymology and naming
In the Star Wars universe, the planet Coruscant derives its name from a rare and valuable gemstone, the corusca gem. The lights of the planet-wide city, as seen from space, were said to resemble the glittering of these gems.In the real world, the word "coruscant" originates in the late 15th century from the Latin word coruscant, meaning "vibrating, glittering". It comes from the Latin verb coruscare, meaning "to glitter". The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines it as a poetic and literary adjective meaning "glittering; sparkling". In French, "coruscant" is also used as an adjective meaning "glittering; sparkling". As a literary adjective, the French term can be used to describe a decadent and overly complicated language, decorum, or community.
Early concepts
The concept of a city-planet in the Star Wars universe originated with the initial drafts of Star Wars when author George Lucas included a planet called Alderaan, a city-planet and the capital planet of the galaxy. In Lucas's 1975 draft, Adventures of the Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars, the capital planet of Alderaan is described as a floating city in the clouds, "suspended in a sea of cirrus methane". This concept was illustrated in early sketches commissioned by Lucas from conceptual artist Ralph McQuarrie, and the design very closely resembles Cloud City, the floating city featured in The Empire Strikes Back. In Lucas's third draft, the Imperial City of Alderaan became the homeworld of the Sith Lords, where Darth Vader held Princess Leia captive. Lucas continued to hone his script, aided by screenwriters Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz. By the fourth draft, scenes on the Imperial capital planet had been moved to a space station called the Death Star and the name of Alderaan was given to a peaceful world destroyed by the Empire.The Empire's homeworld, Had Abbadon, came up in early drafts of Return of the Jedi. The entire planet was to be a sprawling city. However, concluding that the realization of such a city was impossible at the time, the creators abandoned the idea. Later, in the graphic novel Legacy 29: Vector, Part 10 the name Had Abbadon was given to a lost mythic planet in the Had Abbadon System of the Deep Core. This mythic planet was covered by dry fields, linked to the birth of the Jedi, and the location of a planned assassination attempt by Cade Skywalker on Darth Krayt.
The Empire's homeworld first appeared in the Star Wars Expanded Universe and was called Coruscant for the first time in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire.
In various novels, characters aligned with the Empire refer to Coruscant as the "Imperial Center". Within the stories, this is explained as an administrative renaming undertaken to emphasize the differences between the Old Republic and the Empire.
Coruscant was in some early sources called "Jhantor" in homage to Isaac Asimov's Trantor.
Design
Production artwork produced by Ralph McQuarrie for Return of the Jedi included some unrealized designs for the imperial capital, Had Abbadon. During the production of The Phantom Menace, it was decided that scenes would be set on the capital planet, now called Coruscant. Artist Doug Chiang was tasked with designing the imperial city for which he turned to McQuarrie's original concept art. The appearance of the cityscape has been described as a "retro-futuristic metropolis", and the streams of floating vehicles traveling between soaring skyscrapers is thought to have been partly inspired by Fritz Lang's 1927 film, Metropolis.In Attack of the Clones, the depiction of Coruscant was expanded greatly. Chiang created a more urban, apocalyptic environment for the street level, taking inspiration from Ridley Scott's 1982 hit film Blade Runner.
For the television series Andor, VFX supervisor Scott Pritchard chose to move away from the "high science fiction" depiction of Coruscant seen in the prequel trilogy and instead opted for a more realistic and grounded take on the planet's cityscape, inspired by New York City's Art Deco stone buildings. Real world locations in London, such as the Barbican Centre and Canary Wharf, were used for filming scenes on Coruscant and were later extended or augmented with CGI.
Appearances
''Episode VI: Return of the Jedi''
Coruscant is the location of a sequence added to the 1997 Special Edition release of Return of the Jedi, its first onscreen appearance. The sequence depicts the reaction of citizens of Coruscant upon hearing of the death of Emperor Palpatine, where many citizens are seen celebrating with fireworks and pulling down his statue. The 1998 novel X-Wing: Iron Fist included an eyewitness account of this scene.''Episode I: The Phantom Menace''
Coruscant was prominently featured in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace as the location of the Galactic Republic Senate building and the central Jedi Temple.''Episode II: Attack of the Clones''
There is a speeder chase through the skies of Coruscant in Episode II: Attack of the Clones that eventually leads to a nightclub in the bowels of Coruscant's Uscru Entertainment District. Another area of Coruscant shown is Coco Town. Coco Town is the site of Dex's Diner in Attack of the Clones. Another notable area of Coruscant is 500 Republica, an area where the elites of the city, such as politicians and diplomats, gather.''Episode III: Revenge of the Sith''
In Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Coruscant is featured in a space battle during the opening scene. Separatist cyborg, General Grievous kidnaps Chancellor Palpatine and uses the Separatist fleet to help assault the capital and cover his escape.The planet's cityscape is then prominently featured throughout much of the movie with Chancellor Palpatine's office as well as the Senate building being the primary two settings on Coruscant. A theatre in 500 Republica is where Anakin Skywalker and Palpatine watch a ballet; during the show, Palpatine encourages Skywalker to ally with the Dark Side by telling him of the supposed Sith ability of resuscitation.
Image:Modimapgalaxy1.jpg|300px|thumb|Map of the Star Wars galaxy; Coruscant's XYZ coordinates are designated 0,0,0 and the grid coordinates are L-9.
After a failed attempt by the Jedi to arrest Palpatine when he divulges his true identity as Darth Sidious to Skywalker, Palpatine appoints himself Emperor of the first Galactic Empire in the Republic Senate Building on Coruscant.