Carbon-freezing was an industrial process by which high-strength liquid carbonite was flash-frozen via combination with high-pressure gas: that gas would then be encased within the carbonite as it turned from a liquid to a solid state. The process was designed to encase, preserve, and entrap otherwise unstable materials for transport, such as gases, in a strong metal alloy. Highly pressurized gases such as tibanna were designed to be safely encased by the solidified carbonite for transport. While it was not the original intention of carbon-freezing, encased materials could even include sentient beings, should the individual in question survive the freezing process.
Lando Calrissian inspects Han Solo after he underwent carbon-freezing to ensure his friend survived.
Legend held that the Sith Lord Darth Siberus froze herself in carbonite. During the Clone Wars, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker came up with the idea to be frozen in carbonite to avoid being detected by the the battle droid's scanners of Lola Sayu's blockade and the Citadel, which ultimately led to the Battle of Lola Sayu. During the Galactic Civil War, the Galactic Empire froze a giant kyber crystal.
On the order of the Sith Lord Darth Vader, the Sith identity of Anakin Skywalker, Han Solo was frozen in carbonite on Cloud City in a crude Class-3 CFC chamber as a test for how the chamber would handle human freezing. After Solo was frozen and survived, Vader attempted to freeze his son, the young Jedi Luke Skywalker, but Skywalker escaped. During a return mission to Cloud City, Princess Leia Organa and several other residents of Cloud City under went carbon-freezing by the Imperial Garrison under Captain Tanch. Solo's freezing process resulted in hibernation sickness, causing temporary blindness, when he was released almost a year later.
Surat Nuat had an office desk made with the frozen block of his brother. The bounty hunter, Din Djarin, would carbon-freeze several of his bounties aboard his ship, the Razor Crest.
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