Wookieepedia

READ MORE

Wookieepedia
Advertisement
Wookieepedia
Click here for Wookieepedia's article on the Canon version of this subject.  This article covers the Legends version of this subject. 
"The Espos were brutal in their interrogation of prisoners, seeking the ringleaders. It was the first time I had seen anyone use The Burning […] I will not leave my mate in the hands of the kind of people who would do that."
Atuarre to Han Solo[1]

The Burning was the name given to a form of torture that consisted of the repeated use of a blaster, set at a low power level, to slowly sear the flesh of an individual's body down to the bone. It was common practice for an interrogator using this method to begin with one of the victim's legs so as to immobilize them. The interrogator would repeat the process with other parts of the victim's body until the victim gave the interrogator the answers he or she wanted, until the victim perished, or the torturer satisfied.

History[]

In cases in which a victim possessed knowledge that an interrogator desired, the Burning was an extremely effective means of obtaining information. Forcing an individual to watch as another was subjected to this particularly brutal torture method also proved to be effective. However, when a victim did not have information that an interrogator wanted, the interrogator ran the risk of eventually killing the victim.

During the Pius Dea Era, the Burning was inflicted on Jedi Padawans—along with other physical torments—as part of the Trial of the Flesh stage of the Jedi Trials.[2]

The bounty hunter Feskitt Bobb, one among sundry ruthless individuals, employed the Burning during the course of his hunts. The Corporate Sector Authority's Security Police performed the technique with E-11 blaster rifles in a hunt for the leaders of an uprising against the Authority during its annexation of the Trianii colony of Fibuli. During the Galactic Empire's campaign against the Virgillian Free Alignment, stormtroopers stationed aboard the Victory-class Star Destroyer Stormwind used this technique while questioning refugees; however, they ended up killing many refugees while gaining no useful information.[3]

Behind the scenes[]

OwenBeruDead-MOSW

The charred corpses of Owen and Beru Lars.

The Burning was first described in the pages of Han Solo at Stars' End, by author Brian Daley. When he was asked in an interview whether he believed that Owen and Beru Lars were victims of the Burning, Daley said that the scene in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, where Luke Skywalker sees the burning homestead and their charred corpses "was exactly what I had in mind when I wrote those lines."[4]

Appearances[]

Sources[]

Notes[]

External links[]

In other languages
Advertisement