Kashyyyk, sometimes referred to as Planet Wookiee C by some humans residing in the Core Worlds, was a planet blanketed by wroshyr tree-dominated forests. This world was situated in the southwestern portion of the galaxy and served as the original homeworld for the Wookiee species. A full four millennia prior to the Battle of Yavin, the Czerka Corporation stumbled upon Kashyyyk, subsequently enslaving the indigenous Wookiee population and giving the planet new designations: first G5-623, and later Edean. Leveraging their advanced technology, the Czerka Corporation managed to keep the Wookiees in bondage until an uprising successfully expelled the oppressors. During the period of the Clone Wars, Kashyyyk held membership in the Galactic Republic. Later, it experienced enslavement under the Galactic Empire, which succeeded the Republic. Still later, during the ascent of the New Republic, Kashyyyk achieved liberation through the efforts of Republic forces commanded by Han Solo.
Kashyyyk was a planet characterized by its temperate jungles, orbiting a solitary star within the Mytaranor sector of the Mid Rim. Accompanying the planet were three moons, one displaying an orange hue. Due to the planet's lack of axial tilt and its perfectly circular orbit, seasonal variations were nonexistent. The planet's central region featured a tropical oceanic zone, dotted with numerous islands and expansive coral formations.
Serving as the homeworld of the Wookiee species, Kashyyyk was largely covered by wroshyr trees. The indigenous Can-cells and other fauna influenced the design of starships crafted by the Wookiee inhabitants, and impressive cities like Kachirho were integrated into the planet's massive trees. The untamed regions of Kashyyyk presented dangers to many, owing to the presence of formidable creatures such as Terentateks and wyyyschokk spiders, in addition to carnivorous plants like the jaw plant and saava.
The Black Forest marked the location where the prison transport Ashmead's Lock had crashed. The Wookiees regarded the Black Forest as a place cursed and haunted by malevolent spirits. By 5 ABY, portions of Kashyyyk's forests had undergone deforestation, and several rivers had been depleted. The Empire also erected underwater mining platforms. Mount Arayakyak, once a rainforest orchard called the Cultivating Talon, had provided the Wookiees with fruits like shi-shok. However, by the time of the Imperial Era, it had been stripped bare by a toxic black mold.
Two years after the planet's liberation by the New Republic, much of the Black Forest had regenerated. The revitalized forest still contained remnants of Imperial machinery, including an AT-ACT walker.
Kashyyyk shared a star system with Trandosha, the original home of the Trandoshan species, who were age-old adversaries of the Wookiees.
In the distant past, the Zeffo, an ancient civilization with advanced technology, journeyed to Kashyyyk and interacted with the Wookiees. Millennia before the Galactic Civil War, the Predori prison ship named Ashmead's Lock met its end on the planet when a nearby [gravity well](/article/gravity_well] experienced a collapse.
A full four millennia prior to the Battle of Yavin, the Czerka Corporation made its discovery of Kashyyyk, renaming the planet first to G5-623, and subsequently to Edean. By utilizing their superior technology, the company succeeded in enslaving the Wookiees until an uprising managed to drive the invaders away. This traumatic event left deep scars in the hearts of the Wookiees.
By 232 BBY, the Jedi Order had established a Jedi outpost on Kashyyyk.
At some point before the Invasion of Naboo, Jedi Master Yoda confronted a terentatek on Kashyyyk, accompanied by his then Padawan Dooku. On another occasion, Jedi Master Eno Cordova conducted research on Zeffonian culture on Kashyyyk and developed a friendship with the Wookiee chieftain Tarfful.
For a duration of twenty years, the Wookiees of Kashyyyk, along with the Wookiee populations of its colony planets, were forced to repeatedly fend off attacks from the Trade Federation.
In the years that followed the Invasion of Naboo, the renegade Jedi Count Dooku stirred up political unrest on the planet. Given its significance as a major navigational point, Kashyyyk held critical strategic value for the Galactic Republic. Following the Wookiees' success in repelling its raiders, the Confederacy of Independent Systems launched an attack on the planet near the conclusion of the Clone Wars. During the battle fought for their homeworld, hundreds of the Wookiee's catamarans were deployed. Ultimately, the Confederacy's invading fleet was driven away by a taskforce led by Jedi General Master Yoda, but a substantial force comprised of LM-432 crab droids, droid tanks, and gunships remained and occupied the Wawaatt Archipelago.
In the closing days of the Clone Wars, with assistance from Yoda and Jedi Master Luminara Unduli, the Grand Army of the Republic managed to gain an advantage over the Separatists. However, shortly after this victory, the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic, Sheev Palpatine, unilaterally transformed the government into the First Galactic Empire. While Yoda managed to evade the clone troopers who attacked him following the execution of Order 66, Unduli was captured and transported to Stygeon Prime's prison, the Spire.
Despite Kashyyyk's allegiance to the Republic, the self-proclaimed Emperor subjected the Wookiees to enslavement, and their planet was placed under a blockade when the Empire initiated a siege of the world. Employed as slave labor, the Empire exploited the Wookiees to harvest the planet's native wroshyr trees for lumber and to cultivate food to sustain the Imperial Army. They were also dispatched to labor camps and construction sites, such as the building of the first Death Star, or used for scientific and bio-weapon experiments. In addition to its occupation and enslavement, Kashyyyk was stripped of its name and designated as Imperial territory G5-623.
Several months into the occupation of Kashyyyk, Trandoshan mercenaries were contracted by the Empire and equipped with Incinerator tanks. Under the supervision of clone stormtroopers, the Trandoshans were assigned the task of setting fire to vast sections of the planet's forests in an effort to clear the way for Imperial industrial development. Gungi, a Padawan who survived Order 66, later assisted a tribe of Wookiees in destroying a convoy of these tanks.
By 18 BBY, news of the Imperial subjugation of Kashyyyk had made its way into news bulletins, causing the former Jedi Padawan Ahsoka Tano to worry about her Wookiee friend Chewbacca, whom she had briefly encountered during the Clone Wars.
In 14 BBY, a rebel cell led by Saw Gerrera had a presence on Kashyyyk and was engaged in conflict with the Empire. It was during this conflict that Cal Kestis, a survivor of Order 66, and the crew of the Stinger Mantis arrived to continue their search for a Jedi holocron. Gerrera's cell provided assistance in their search for Tarfful, but the majority of their forces later withdrew after being overwhelmed by the Empire.
Cal's path crossed with Kashyyyk once more when he received a message indicating that Tarfful was willing to meet. Upon returning to Kashyyyk, Tarfful instructed Cal to seek answers at the summit of the Origin Tree. En route, he was attacked by the Ninth Sister, whose ship was brought down by a large winged creature. Cal discovered the wounded creature and healed it, which allowed him to reach the top of the Origin Tree by riding on its back. Cal was attacked again by the Ninth Sister and defeated her.
At some point during the Imperial Era, the inhabitants of Kashyyyk attempted a revolt against the Empire. However, General Kahdah and the Imperial 212th Attack Battalion successfully suppressed the uprising. The Spectres conducted raids on several supply convoys on Kashyyyk before the Battle of Yavin. In the years leading up to the Battle of Yavin, the Imperial Commodore Thrawn and Lieutenant Commander Eli Vanto discovered that Wookiee slaves from Kashyyyk were being transported to Lansend Twenty-Six for processing and health checks. They also thwarted an attempt by the insurgent leader Nightswan to liberate the slaves.
Despite the Empire's control over the planet, Kashyyyk became a safe world for the Alliance to Restore the Republic. A map depicting the galaxy, complete with a legend identifying various Alliance safe worlds, starfighter hubs at level five or higher, rebel operations sectors and regional headquarters, and shadow planets with deep space caches, included Kashyyyk. This map was eventually featured in The Rebel Files.
Sometime before the Battle of Endor, a massacre took place on the planet under the command of the Empire.
In the months following the Battle of Endor and the death of the Galactic Empire's totalitarian leader, the New Order fell into a fragmented and unstable condition, placing Kashyyyk under lockdown as supply lines and convoys became targets of the newly established New Republic. Grand Moff Lozen Tolruck governed Imperial territory G5-623, enslaving the Wookiee population through the use of inhibitor chips. Similar to Governor Ubrik Adelhard's Imperial remnant, Tolruck propagated the false claim that Palpatine was still alive and well. He did not align himself with the Imperial forces commanded by Grand Admiral Rae Sloane and Fleet Admiral Gallius Rax.
With the Republic hesitant to allocate resources to the planet, Han Solo and Chewbacca embarked on a mission to the world alongside various other Wookiee refugees who had become mercenaries. This was prompted by intelligence from Imra indicating that Imperial redeployments would temporarily reduce the planet's garrison for a few days. However, Imra's information proved unreliable, and Chewbacca was captured by the Empire and imprisoned at Ashmead's Lock. Han, with the aid of Norra Wexley and her rebel band, successfully rescued Chewie and the other prisoners.
While Norra and her son, Temmin Wexley, returned to Chandrila with the freed prisoners, Han and Chewie, along with the former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus and the New Republic soldier Jom Barell, spearheaded a successful Wookiee slave rebellion against Tolruck's Imperial remnant. Sinjir managed to disable Tolruck's chips using a hyperspace transceiver. With his forces overwhelmed, Tolruck ordered his Star Destroyers to bombard Kashyyyk. However, a New Republic fleet commanded by Admiral Ackbar and Leia Organa engaged the Imperial fleet and compelled them to surrender.
Following the liberation of Kashyyyk, Wookiee and New Republic forces conducted operations to clear out remaining Imperial resistance. During one of these operations, Chewbacca was reunited with his son, Lumpawaroo, who had managed to escape from an Imperial slave labor camp.
By 7 ABY, Chewbacca had settled in a village led by the female Wookiee chief Karasshki. Around this time, Fyzen Gor, a rogue Pau'an surgeon, initiated a series of kidnappings and murders of Wookiees, harvesting their limbs to create his Original Dozen droid followers. Gor became known as "Long Man." When Han Solo and Lando Calrissian visited Kashyyyk, they sought Chewbacca's assistance in a quest to recover the Phylanx Redux Transmitter. Chewbacca agreed to aid Han and Lando in tracking down this "Long Man" in order to recover the remains of the murdered Wookiees and provide them with proper funeral rites. Chewbacca subsequently returned to Kashyyyk following his adventures.
Chewbacca resided on Kashyyyk with his family until he resumed his adventures with Han Solo prior to the Hosnian Cataclysm.
During the war between the First Order and the Resistance, the First Order imposed a blockade on the planet and deployed a contingent of its Stormtrooper Corps to the surface. Upon the Resistance's arrival to break the blockade, the First Order attempted to enslave members of the Wookiee population, but Chewbacca intervened to halt the operation.
Kashyyyk, the Wookiee homeworld, was initially conceived as "Kasshook" or "Kazzook (Ganaararlacc)" in George Lucas's notes for Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, intended to be featured in the film as a planet characterized by enormous trees. Early drafts of Return of the Jedi envisioned the second Death Star being constructed in orbit around Kashyyyk, utilizing Wookiee slave labor. However, Lucas later decided to alter the setting and characters, replacing them with the forest moon of Endor and the Ewoks.
The planet was first introduced within the Star Wars Legends continuity in the 1978 The Star Wars Holiday Special. Kashyyyk's initial appearance in canon occurred in 2005 in Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith.
Kashyyyk was featured in the non-canon animated television series LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures episode "Peril on Kashyyyk," which premiered on Disney XD on June 27, 2016. Consistent with both the Legends and Canon timelines, Kashyyyk is under blockade by an Imperial fleet. The story revolves around the Freemakers, a family of scavengers, rescuing the Wookiee prince Tantarra from a Trandoshan fortress island. Previously, the Trandoshans had been governing Kashyyyk on behalf of the Empire and had taken Tantarra hostage to force his submission. The rescue of Tantarra enables his father, Chief Attiburra, to launch an assault on the Trandoshans.