Lettow

"When they said no, as [Xendor had] known they would, he left the Order to found his own academy on Lettow. I accompanied him, and others followed—first by ones and twos, then in larger groups. These newcomers took to calling themselves the Legions of Lettow, for they swore to defend us and our right to seek knowledge of the Force without the interference of the Jedi hierarchs and their pronouncements about what was correct and what was forbidden."

―Filed selections from the debriefing of Arden Lyn^[4]

Lettow was a Core Worlds planet. After leaving the Jedi Order in 24,500 BBY, the Jedi Knight Xendor founded the Legionnaire Academy on Lettow for studying alternative Force-user traditions. Other like-minded individuals who came to follow Xendor named themselves the Legions of Lettow, and the group eventually came into conflict with the Jedi. After Xendor's death at the Battle of Columus, Jedi armies attacked the Legionnaires at Lettow, who held them off long enough to escape beyond the borders of the Galactic Republic. Over the subsequent millennia, Lettow became a legendary lost world.

Description[]

Lettow was a terrestrial planet^[2] located in the Lettow system, a part of the Arrowhead, or the Slice portion of the Core Worlds. It was situated near the border of the Deep Core.^[1]

History[]

"Then they came to Lettow to kill the rest of us. I knew there was no hope of victory, only of escape. And so we held Pina's armies off just long enough to seek refuge beyond the Republic's borders."

―Filed selections from the debriefing of Arden Lyn^[4]

In 24,500 BBY,^[5] Jedi Knight^[6] Xendor requested permission from the leadership of the Jedi Order to create an academy devoted to the study of the alternative Force-using traditions of the galaxy. After the request was denied, Xendor left the Order and founded the facility^[4] known as the Legionnaire Academy on Lettow.^[3] He was followed by his lover, Arden Lyn, and soon by others who rebelled against the Jedi Order's control over the study of the Force. Those followers of Xendor named themselves the Legions of Lettow, and the disagreements between the Legionnaires and the Jedi eventually escalated into the conflict known as the First Great Schism.^[4]

Arden Lyn and Xendor — Xendor (right) established the Legionnaire Academy on Lettow.

After the Jedi killed Xendor at^[4] the Battle of Columus,^[7] the Jedi armies advanced on Lettow with the intent of killing the rest of the Legions.^[4] Lyn, who had inherited the leadership of Xendor's forces,^[1] realized the only viable strategy was for the Legionnaires to hold off the Jedi at Lettow, which they did long enough for the former to escape beyond the borders of the Galactic Republic.^[4] Jedi Master^[8] Awdrysta Pina, however, eventually tracked down the fleeing Lyn to the celestial body Irkalla, and during the ensuing confrontation, Pina placed Lyn in a state of stasis that lasted until 4 BBY.^[4]

Lettow fell within the Republic's borders around 22,000 BBY,^[1] but over the subsequent millennia, its location became lost to history, and the events related to it were relegated to the status of legend.^[3] In 4 BBY, Lyn was awakened from her stasis by agents of the Galactic Empire and mentioned Lettow in a debriefing, selections of which were filed by^[4] Grand Inquisitor Laddinare Torbin.^[9] By the time of the Galactic Civil War, researchers believed that the holocron of the Jedi Grand Master and Supreme Chancellor of the Republic Biel Ductavis, who had lived eleven thousand years prior, could allow for the rediscovery of mythical worlds such as Lettow, although the artifact itself had been lost for millennia on the planet Ossus.^[3]

Behind the scenes[]

As first documented in the 1997 book Star Wars: The Annotated Screenplays by Laurent Bouzereau, the name "Lettow" originated in George Lucas's 1974 first script draft for the 1977 original trilogy film, Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope. In the draft, "Legions of Lettow" was a name used for a faction that would ultimately morph into the Sith that served as the antagonists of the trilogy.^[10]

The name of the Legions of Lettow was reclaimed for canonical use with respect to the Star Wars Legends continuity in the 2002 Power of the Jedi Sourcebook, which was published for use with Wizards of the Coast's Star Wars Roleplaying Game.^[11] Daniel Wallace and Fry's 2009 reference book The Essential Atlas subsequently established that Lettow was a distinct celestial body and placed it in grid square M-11.^[1]