Yavin 4, also known as Yavin, was the jungle-covered fourth moon in orbit around the red gas giant Yavin Prime. Prior to and during the Galactic Civil War, it hosted the headquarters of the Alliance to Restore the Republic, a group of resistance fighters that opposed the dominant Galactic Empire. Following a major battle that took place around Yavin, the Alliance went on the run, and eventually relocated its headquarters to Hoth.
During the New Republic Era, Wetyin's Colony was the main settlement on the moon, and the Dameron family was settled there. Due to New Republic demilitarization, the Civilian Defense Force was founded to defend the moon. The Defense Force, along with the New Republic Security Bureau, was later involved in an altercation with the Spice Runners of Kijimi after they crash-landed on the moon and escaped.
The surface of Yavin 4 was divided into several continental masses, two of which were Starloft and Wetyin. Notable natural formations included Massassi Valley, Skygazer Hill, and the . The verdant world had a comfortable, temperate climate but a challenging ecosystem and dangerous predators.
The moon's landmasses were covered by dense jungles and rain forests whose flora included purple-barked Massassi trees, grenade fungi, bioluminescent orchids, and climbing ferns. Yavin 4 also had swampy areas. The moon, however, was completely lacking in any mineral resources of significance.
An ancient Massassi temple on Yavin 4.
Five thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, the ancient warriors of the Massassi lived on Yavin 4 and constructed the Great Temple. The Great Temple was alleged to have been built under the leadership of the Sith Lord Naga Sadow around 5000 BBY. The Massassi venerated the tyrant as a god and the Temple was raised in Sadow's honor. Archeologists later proposed that the Great Temple may have functioned as a large-scale communications device to contact other Sith Lords throughout the galaxy. Being enslaved by the Sith, the Massassi species went extinct millennia before 0 ABY, sometime after finishing their temples.
Sometime before the Battle of Coruscant, an archaeological expedition on the moon of Yavin 4 uncovered the Great Sith Wars Bas-Relief in one of the enormous stone temples built by the Massassi.
The Great Temple was turned into a rebel base during the Galactic Civil War
The Alliance to Restore the Republic would utilize the temple during the Galactic Civil War as a base of operations against the then-dominant Galactic Empire. It was from this base that Operation Fracture was dispatched to Jedha. Shortly following this, Alliance snub fighter squadrons with orders to destroy the Death Star were also launched from Yavin 4. After the space battle and the related award ceremony, the rebels evacuated the base to escape any retaliatory strike by the Empire.
After the temple was abandoned by the rebels, a Special Galaxy Reporter was sent to Yavin 4 to write a travel advertisement about the ruins. The moon was also occupied by the Empire after the rebels fled, with Imperial walkers and stormtroopers stationed around the former base. Amid the Imperial occupation, Doctor Korin Aphra led his daughter, Chelli Lona Aphra, droids 0-0-0 and BT-1, and the Wookiee bounty hunter Krrsantan into a raid at the Great Temple during his search for the Ordu Aspectu.
At another point, a rebel force was sent to the moon in order to seize leftover data centers from the previous rebel occupation. However, the Empire managed to discover the plot and also sent forces to secure them for its own purposes. In the time before the Battle of Hoth, multiple battles between Alliance and Imperial forces would occur on the moon's surface.
Yavin 4 was home to the Dameron family during the New Republic Era
Around six months after the Battle of Endor and after leaving the rebellion, Shara Bey and Kes Dameron settled down on Yavin 4 and planted the twig of a Force-sensitive tree on the moon. During the New Republic Era, the Civilian Defense Force or CDF was established to protect the moon after the New Republic's Defense Fleet was reduced, and Bey was a pilot in the Defense Force.
Future Resistance pilot Poe Dameron grew up on Yavin 4. While flying his mother's starfighter, Poe was shot down by the CDF, which lead to a conflict with his father and close family-friend L'ulo L'ampar. Shortly after this, Poe ran away to Gully's cantina and joined the Spice Runners of Kijimi, who had crashed on the moon. Flying their freighter, the Ragged Claw, Poe helped the Spice Runners narrowly escape the New Republic Security Bureau, who had taken interest in the Spice Runners.
Yavin 4 first appeared in the 1977 film Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the first installment of the Star Wars original trilogy.
The real-world location of Yavin 4 is the ruins of an ancient Mayan city at Tikal, Guatemala. Most of the shots of approaches to Yavin 4 from space are just repeats or copies of the Millennium Falcon approach in A New Hope, the only change being a ship replacement.
Yavin 4 is erroneously listed as a planet in the 2016 reference book Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia.
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