Peridea

"This is a land of dreams and madness. Children's stories come to life."

―Baylan Skoll^[1]

Peridea was an extragalactic planet located in the far galaxy. It was the homeworld of the Noti and once the center of the Witch Kingdom of the Dathmiri, which eventually collapsed. Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn and Bokken Jedi Ezra Bridger were banished to Peridea from the known galaxy by a pod of purrgil following the Liberation of Lothal, on Bridger's request. The Arcana Star Map of the Witches of Dathomir depicted a Pathway to Peridea from the main galaxy.

According to Baylan Skoll, Jedi Younglings shared tales of Peridea throughout their childhood. The rings of the planet consisted of purrgil bones, as members of the species came to Peridea to die.

Description[]

"Be warned. Nomads wander this wasteland and prey upon each other for survival."

―Enoch, to Sabine Wren^[1]

Peridea was a planet located in the distant far galaxy, far away from the one presided over by the New Republic. The planetary surface was occupied by vast, barren wastelands including grasslands, plains, lakes, and meadows, while its atmosphere was breathable to humans, Chiss, Togruta, and Dathomirian Zabraks. It had a massive ring made up of the bones of purrgil surrounding it, as the creatures came to the planet to die.^[1]

Peridea graveyard ring — The planetary ring around Peridea was comprised of the bones of dead purrgil

Peridea was the homeworld of the Noti species, who moved around in mobile settlements to avoid the dangers, and the wastes were populated by Howlers as well as a species of small reptavian native to the planet. There were also roaming groups of bandits who preyed on the lonesome stragglers who had ventured off onto the surface.^[1]

A significant portion of the planet's culture revolved around the ancient Witch Kingdom of the Dathmiri. Several towering statues depicting those who originally populated the planet dotted the landscape. Around 9 ABY, three witches calling themselves the Great Mothers maintained a fortress which included above and underground henges and contained vast catacombs.^[1]

History[]

Myths and legends[]

"Do you miss it? The Order."
"I miss... the idea of it. But not the truth, the weakness. There was no future there."
"And you clearly see one here? In this wasteland?"
"I see what once was the great Witch Kingdom of the Dathmiri. The existence of the Great Mothers confirms this."
"They seem eager to leave this place. Maybe we should, too."
"Perhaps they flee a power greater than their own. Something calls to me. Can't you hear it? Something stirs here. Can't you see it?"

―Shin Hati and Baylan Skoll^[1]

BaylanSkoll-FFA — Baylan Skoll discovered the myths of Peridea's graveyards in the Jedi Archives

Due to its extragalactic location, much that was known about Peridea to the inhabitants of the galaxy came from legends and tales. One such tale was the Pathway to Peridea, popular among the Younglings of the Jedi Temple on Coruscant during the time when Baylan Skoll studied there. The tale of the Pathway described Peridea as a legendary planet outside of the main galaxy, which could be reached by following the Pathway starting from the planet Seatos on the Denab system. Skoll initially considered the stories to be mere children's tales,^[3] however he eventually discovered the same legends on the Jedi Archives; there, Peridea was described as the end of the purrgils' last migration route, where they would go to pass away among their kind in a vast planetary "graveyard" ring.^[1]

Another legend about Peridea existed among the Nightsisters of Dathomir; it described the planet as the original home of their people, who rode the purrgil to travel between galaxies.^[1] A star map depicting the route from Seatos to Peridea was constructed at some point long before the New Republic Era and hidden in the Nightsisters' Temple on Arcana.^[4] By combining the map and the reflex point on the henge temple on Seatos, a Witch could activate a holographic map which would give detailed instructions on how to reach Peridea, going as far as to provide usable hyperspace coordinates.^[3]

Ancient history[]

"That is Peridea. The ancient home world of my ancestors, the Dathomiri."
"The Jedi archives spoke of this place. It was the end of a migration route used by the star whales as they traversed the void from one galaxy to the other."
"My people were the first to harness and ride the creatures in the days before time was counted."

―Morgan Elsbeth and Baylan Skoll^[1]

At some point during its ancient history, a massive fortress was constructed on Peridea with an inscription that blessed the rule of the Zeffo Sage Kujet and his reign. The inscription was written in the ancient Ur-Kittât script.^[1]

At some point in time, Kujet's fortress came to be inhabited by the Dathomiri Nightsisters, with architect droid Huyang believing the planet to have become the center of their Witch Kingdom. Eventually, the fortress was abandoned by all but three witches, who came to call themselves the Great Mothers. They entered a long sleep at some time after this.^[1]

Imperial Era[]

Exiled by the whales[]

Purrgil Ultra — A purrgil Ultra carries the Chimaera away from Lothal

During the Galactic Civil War, Bokken Jedi^[1] Ezra Bridger joined the Phoenix Squadron of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and engaged in a long campaign to liberate his homeworld of Lothal. After encountering the purrgil in the Mining Guild's Asteroid Belt Gas Refinery and establishing a psychometric connection with them through the Force,^[5] Bridger eventually called for their assistance during the Liberation of Lothal^[6] in 1 BBY.^[7] During a pivotal battle against the occupation forces led by Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn, the purrgil appeared out of hyperspace and destroyed his blockade above the planet. This allowed a pod led by a Purrgil Ultra to capture his flagship, the Chimaera, and carry it whole along with Bridger and Thrawn in hyperspace.^[6] Heavily injured by the effort, the purrgil arrived at Peridea,^[1] leaving the two stranded with no way back.^[3]

Survivors in a land of dreams[]

While in exile for more than a decade, the two eventually developed a close contact with the locals, using them to further their respective goals. Bridger escaped to the planet's wastelands and came close to the Noti nomads, learning their language and living in a mobile home in one of their mobile encampments.^[1] He earned their trust by helping them repel the bandits that harassed them, and helped them develop defensive maneuvers to counter their attacks.^[8] Meanwhile, Thrawn discovered the Nightsister fortress and awoke its three inhabitants, and enlisted their help in repairing his troopers' armor and contacting one of his closest allies, fellow Nightsister Morgan Elsbeth^[1] through her dreams to ask for her help in locating him.^[3]

New Republic Era[]

Morgan Elsbeth's discovery[]

Ct-05 on the eye of sion — Morgan Elsbeth's forces constructed the *Eye of Sion* in secret over Seatos

Following the end of the Civil War and the establishment of the New Republic in the place of the Galactic Empire, Morgan Elsbeth, having learned of Thrawn's fate by the Great Mothers' reaching out, began researching his possible whereabouts and actively working for his return. At some point around 9 ABY, her efforts caught the attention of former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano, who tracked her down to her hiding place in the village of Calodan on Corvus and, with the help of Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin apprehended her^[9] to New Republic custody.^[4] Unbeknownst to Tano, Elsbeth's forces had already concluded Thrawn's extragalactic location and began constructing a massive hyperspace transport ring, the Eye of Sion, to retrieve the Grand Admiral from his exile.^[3]

With Elsbeth herself swiftly rescued from captivity by mercenaries Baylan Skoll and his apprentice Shin Hati,^[4] and Hati taking possession of the Nightsister star map from Arcana,^[3] Elsbeth's Star Navigator droids interpolated the coordinates to Peridea and, following a brief skirmish with Tano^[10] successfully executed the jump through the intergalactic void to the legendary planet. Upon their arrival, they were greeted by the Great Mothers in the temple, and finally rendezvoused with Thrawn after his decades in exile. Meanwhile, Tano's Padawan Sabine Wren, who had surrendered the star map to Skoll in exchange for passage to Peridea, discovered Bridger living as a nomad among the native Noti, and joined their clan.^[1]

Friends and enemies reunited[]

Eye of sion holding cell — Sabine Wren arrived at Peridea as a prisoner

Eventually Tano, determined to rescue Wren and put an end to Thrawn's threat before it could rise again arrived at the planet as well, carried in the mouth of a purrgil. Having been informed of her approach by the Great Mothers' magick, Thrawn had already ordered^[8] his Captain of the Guard^[1] Enoch to deploy an extensive field of space mines around the planet, which detonated on the whales as soon as they arrived, severely injuring them and forcing them to abandon Tano and her ship. Hunted down by Elsbeth's RP82 Fiend fighters, Ahsoka was forced to hide her shuttle in the graveyard ring, where she was attacked by the Eye of Sion's turbolasers after once again being detected by the Mothers. With nowhere else to go, Tano was forced to ditch her ship and companion Huyang and land on the surface. There, she encountered Baylan Skoll, who had abandoned his Padawan in pursuit of a greater power he sensed hiding on the planet; the two briefly dueled but with both preoccupied in their own missions, the battle was cut short when Huyang bombed Skoll, giving Tano time to escape.^[8]

On the meantime, Hati and a group of bandits had located the Noti clan Wren and Bridger were hiding with, and accompanied by two squads of Night Troopers on board LAAT/le patrol gunships had engaged the pair. Outnumbered, the two were soon encircled, but their execution was delayed when Ahsoka jumped into the battle, having arrived at the encampment just in time to witness her Padawan's peril. With most troopers killed in the skirmish, Thrawn ordered the survivors to return to the Chimaera, leaving the two Jedi and Sabine alone to cheer their reunion.^[8]

While Tano, Wren and Bridger were preoccupied, Thrawn's forces completed the transfer of coffins from the crypt below the Great Mothers' Fortress onto the Chimaera. Thrawn also dispatched a pair of TIE fighters to destroy the Jedi, who repelled the attack and stormed the Great Mothers' Fortress. Thrawn managed to delay the Jedi by deploying a contingent of Night Troopers who had been resurrected by Nightsister magick. Tano also defeated Elsbeth in combat. In an attempt to kill the Jedi and Wren, Thrawn ordered the Chimaera to destroy the fortress. The Chimaera managed to dock with the Eye of Sion and returned to the main galaxy, leaving Tano and Wren stranded on Peridea.^[2]

Tano and Wren survived the bombardment and were rescued by Huyang. Despite Thrawn's efforts, Bridger managed to board the Chimaera and reunited with General Hera Syndulla in the main galaxy. Following Thrawn's escape Wren, Tano, and Huyang settled among the Noti. Meanwhile, Hati sought out the bandits while Skoll sought the mysterious source of power on Peridea that was seemingly connected to the powerful Force wielders known as The Ones.^[2]

Inhabitants[]

Natives[]

Main article: Noti

"They're peaceful people."

―Ezra Bridger^[8]

Peridea's native inhabitants were the Noti and the bandits. The Noti were a species of small sentient nomads with rock-like shells on their backs they used for hiding. They lived in mobile pod-shaped homes which they drove around the planet in tight-knit communities^[1] to avoid the surface's dangers and were known to be very peaceful, using only primitive weapons such as slingshots.^[8]

The bandits were tall humanoids who moved around in the backs of native howlers,^[1] forming hunting parties to attack Noti communities. They were armed with a variant of blaster rifles and wore red armor, with hunting party leaders also wearing large decorated helmets.^[8]

Legendary inhabitants[]

The Dathomiri were also said to have lived on the planet, with three powerful witches still residing in the fortress by 9 ABY and Huyang believing them to have made the planet a capital for their civilization, the Witch Kingdom of Dathomir.^[1]

Immigrated species[]

As a result of their forceful exile by the purrgil, a detachment of human stormtroopers calling themselves the Night Troopers were forced to survive on the planet for nearly a decade, their numbers dwindling with each passing year. In addition, the Jedi and rebel fugitive Ezra Bridger settled among a Noti clan and became their leader.^[1]

After being stranded on Peridea by Thrawn, the Jedi Ahsoka Tano, the Mandalorian Sabine Wren and the architect droid Huyang settled among the Noti clan that Bridger had befriended.^[2]

Behind the scenes[]

Peridea first appeared in the Disney+ television series Ahsoka, released in 2023.^[4] However, the location itself had existed in some form since 2018 at least, as Timothy Zahn confirmed in an interview at the Dragon Con 2018 that where Grand Admiral Thrawn had been sent to by the purrgil after "Family Reunion – and Farewell," the series finale of Star Wars Rebels, had already been decided.^[11]