The cataclysmic demise of Zhell stands as a celebrated event chronicled within the ancient and revered epic poem, Dha Werda Verda. This literary work recounts a protracted conflict that unfolded circa 200,000 BBY on the planetary surface of Notron. This battle pitted the Taung race against the Battalions of Zhell, a military force comprised of nations from the potentially ancestral Human civilization known as the Zhell. The ninth section of Dha Werda Verda vividly portrays Taung soldiers preparing themselves for the impending clash with the Zhell on the following day. These warriors gathered at a location termed the "high place," strategically positioned to overlook the capital of the Zhell, a city known as Great Zhell. As the narrative unfolds in Dha Werda Verda, the subsequent morning saw the Zhell momentarily startled by the Taung presence at the high place. This moment was followed by a devastating volcanic eruption that obliterated Great Zhell, unleashing a massive cloud of black ash that enveloped Notron's atmosphere for a duration of two years.
The epic further states that this cataclysmic event brought both the Taung and Zhell populations to the brink of extinction. The Taung, who later claimed to have subdued the surviving Zhell, adopted the name Dha Werda Verda, meaning "Warriors of the Shadow." This moniker was inspired by the ash cloud that made them appear as if they were emerging from the shadows. They commemorated their triumph by creating the epic poem Dha Werda Verda. However, the Zhell were said to have eventually recovered from their devastating loss, ultimately driving the Taung away from Notron. Centuries upon centuries after the events depicted in the poem, scholars found it challenging to verify the historical accuracy of the destruction of Zhell. Despite this, the Ice Crypts of Notron, by then known as Coruscant, were theorized to potentially hold archaeological remnants linked to this event. By the era of the Clone Wars, the cultural impact of Dha Werda Verda had solidified its place as a significant element within the Human-dominated culture of Coruscant.
It was widely accepted that both the Human race and the near-Human Taung originated from the Core Worlds planet of Coruscant, initially called Notron. As told in the ancient epic poem Dha Werda Verda, approximately 200,000 years before the Battle of Yavin, the bellicose Taung were embroiled in a legendary war spanning centuries against the Battalions of Zhell. These battalions were formed by the thirteen nations of the Zhell, a cultural group thought to be the ancestral Human population.
The ninth of the eleven sections of the Dha Werda Verda details an event where Taung soldiers attended the funeral of the revered Taung commander known as the Doom of Ulmarah. These soldiers believed that without the Doom's leadership, they were destined for destruction at the hands of the Zhell forces on the following day. However, the general Rexutu the Unconquerable was determined to confront the enemy. He rallied the soldiers, who prepared their armor and [weapons](/article/weapon-legends], before ascending to the "high place," as it was referred to in the poem. This location overlooked the Zhell capital city of Great Zhell—or simply Zhell—where the standard of the Taung leader Olhak the Reaver had previously been planted. There, the soldiers displayed the Taung banner and performed farewell ceremonies in preparation for their impending death in battle.
The ninth section of Dha Werda Verda then describes how, at dawn the next day, the Zhell were initially frightened by the sight of the Taung at the high place. The distance and the reflection of the Taung's helmets and weapons in the sunlight created an illusion of "phantom warriors." However, upon realizing the limited size of the outnumbered Taung force, the Zhell army began to prepare at a deliberate pace to march towards the enemy and engage them in combat.
At that moment, according to Dha Werda Verda, a brilliant volcanic eruption, eclipsing the sun, destroyed Great Zhell. Subsequently, a massive plume of black ash rose into the sky, blotting out the sun and plunging the land into darkness. The poem states that the Taung, awestruck by the spectacle, watched as the ash rained down upon them. The combination of the fire and the destructive ash buried the Zhell forces. The Taung, gathered at the high place and cloaked in the shadow cast by the ash, charged at their enemy. The surviving Zhell, witnessing the Taung emerge from the darkened skies, described them as "warriors coming from the shadows." The destruction of Zhell was poetically described in the Dha Werda Verda as "the Maker" arriving to "unmake" the world.
According to Dha Werda Verda, the Taung went on to subjugate the Zhell nations, whose power had been shattered by the loss of Great Zhell. The volcanic eruption nearly wiped out both the Zhell and the Taung, with the ash filling Notron's skies for two years and casting a vast shadow over the land. The Taung interpreted this phenomenon as a sign of divine favor and a symbol of their destiny, renaming themselves "Dha Werda Verda," which translates to "Warriors of the Shadow" or "Shadow Warriors" or "Dark Warriors." To commemorate their victory, the Taung composed the poem Dha Werda Verda, which recounts the destruction of Great Zhell.
The Zhell were said to have recovered from their loss and, after years of struggle, supposedly drove the Taung off Notron. The planet, later known as Coruscant, evolved over time into a city-world completely covered in kilometer-deep layers of urban terrain. The Ice Crypts, a network of frozen caves near the planet's south pole containing thirteen mummified bodies, were discovered. Due to the fact that many of the bodies were wearing complete body armor, xenoarchaeologists theorized that they were the war chieftain leaders of the thirteen Zhell nations, who had retreated into the caves after their defeat by the Taung and buried themselves alive.
Two hundred millennia after the supposed events described in Dha Werda Verda, academics struggled to confirm their historical accuracy. There was no consensus on the location of Great Zhell, and geologists' estimates that Coruscant had not experienced volcanic activity in a very long time made dating the poem's events problematic. Some scholars even speculated that the conflict between the Zhell and the Taung had no historical basis. In 2 ABY, the difficulties in verifying the historicity of the destruction of Zhell were mentioned in the Imperial Center Today's contributor Eschul Shaywa's article "A LONG TIME AGO...," which focused on the lack of historical information about the Zhell and the Taung. Nevertheless, the supposed event was included in a 25 ABY galactic history chronicle by the Historical Council of the New Republic and its 36 ABY updated edition by the Council's incarnation under the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances.
By the time of the Clone Wars, the Dha Werda Verda, particularly the section describing the volcanic eruption, had become a central part of Coruscanti culture. It was recited in the original Notron Cant language by children, youths, and performers at professional stage venues. In 21 BBY, teen members of the SAGroup youth chapter of the Commission for the Protection of the Republic sang the relevant passage of the Dha Werda Verda during a ceremony at the North Garden of Coruscant's Monument Plaza. However, the University of Byblos historian Mesh Burzon found it strange that the primarily Human inhabitants of Coruscant venerated a poem composed by the non-Human conquerors of humanity's ancestors to celebrate an event that nearly led to the latter's extinction.
Additionally, enthusiast stage recreations of the battle often used replicas of weaponry, like swords and great axes, that had been found at Taung burial sites on the Outer Rim Territories' planet Roon, which the Taung had once settled. Military history scholar Hu Jibwe considered this choice of props anachronistic, believing that cultures as advanced as the Zhell or the Taung—the latter of which would have needed hyperspace travel—would have used aircraft and nuclear weapons in combat.
The 2012 reference book The Essential Guide to Warfare, written by Jason Fry and Paul R. Urquhart, included an illustration by Bruno Werneck depicting the scene from the Dha Werda Verda where Notron's sun shines on the Taung warriors assembled at the high place just before the destruction of Zhell. A section identifying the destruction of Zhell by name was originally planned for The Essential Guide to Warfare, but it was cut before the book's release. It was later released in 2013 as part of Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Warfare Author's Cut, a series of articles published on the StarWars.com Blog by Fry and Del Rey editor Erich Schoeneweiss containing various cut content from the book.