Lotho Minor

Lotho Minor, a terrestrial planet characterized by its stormy and desolate environment, orbited the sun Lotho. It was situated beyond the Western Reaches, within the Lotho Minor system, specifically in the northern region of the Outer Rim Territories' Wazta sector, designated as grid square I-17 on the Standard Galactic Grid. This world was located near the Koda Spur hyperspace route, providing connections to both the planet Thune and a space station known as Koda Station. Lotho Minor's surface exhibited a brownish hue and was distinguished by immense mountains of trash, accumulated over countless generations, with significant portions perpetually ablaze (fire). It contained even more junk than the planet Raxus Prime. There were no established approach vectors for entering its atmosphere.

The ruined and decaying hulls of ancient starships protruded from the more recent debris, imparting an eerie, industrial graveyard ambiance to the landscape. Poor visibility due to foul-smelling fog, combined with extensive pools of toxic sludge and intermittent showers of deadly acid rain, rendered the hot and caustic planet's ruined ecosystem one of the most perilous in the galaxy. While its Type I atmosphere was breathable for certain species, Lotho Minor presented a rusty and unappealing appearance even from orbit. It was subject to occasional, intense showers of solid metal along with strong winds that scattered debris across its surface. Furthermore, the combination of rust storms, subterranean explosions, and other abrupt shifts in the lower layers resulted in the detachment of sharp waste and debris, as well as flash floods of chemicals previously contained by eroded dams, adding to Lotho Minor's numerous planetary hazards.

The "Nellis Express to Lotho Minor" served as a nickname for a particularly dangerous tunnel within the Safa Toma Speedway, a Riot Racing circuit situated on the planet Serolonis around the year 19 BBY, drawing a comparison to the hazardous nature of Lotho Minor. The planet's pits were also the source of slang used as an exclamation of surprise: "What in the pits of Lotho Minor?" The smuggler Han Solo famously uttered this phrase upon encountering infant sarlaccs capable of movement around 5 BBY.

Despite its location beyond the remote Western Reaches, Lotho Minor was discovered relatively early in the history of the Galactic Republic. Soon after its discovery, it was designated as a junk repository, as few sentient species were indigenous to the planet. The few that were did not matter to the Republic's self-interested politicians or corporations. Although the Republic initially attempted to regulate the traffic destined for Lotho Minor with the assistance of several large mega-corporations, the absence of a permanent presence or a Republic space station for patrolling the surface meant that anyone could deposit their waste on the planet, forcing inhabitants to be careful of falling debris, which blended into the rest of the once-harmless planet. The species that did consider Lotho Minor their home traded with some of the few visitors to the world.

Eventually, the planet Naboo began using an automatic refill system to send its untreatable waste and contaminated [coolant](/article/coolant] to Lotho Minor, and drone barges transported junk from the moon Cymoon 1 to the planet. Cargo ships routinely released their holds of garbage onto the planet with little regard for the consequences or security measures, often without any warning. Centuries before the [Clone Wars](/article/clone_wars], immense refuse incinerator droids were programmed to incinerate the waste. Over the centuries, Lotho Minor's pollution led to the extinction of its few sentient species. While most non-native species equated Lotho Minor to Hell, it was considered a legendary haven by Jawas, Squibs, and Ugors.

Due to the harsh conditions that made Lotho Minor one of the most dangerous planets in the galaxy, cultural historians, archaeologists, and students of engineering history were unable to conduct research to answer their questions. Junk dealers from across the Outer Rim journeyed to the planet to scavenge functional parts from the countless layers of junk on Lotho Minor's surface. Because radiation spikes made scanning difficult, visitors were forced to fly their vessels very low, risking being struck by debris transformed into meteorites—a fate that many experienced. Some of the more cautious junk dealers chose to interact with Lotho Minor's population of Junkers.

By 20 BBY, the refuse incinerator droids continued to operate among the mountains of garbage. Those who were unfortunate enough to live on Lotho Minor were unaware of the droids' origins and simply referred to them as "fire-breathers." Salvage operations also sifted through the planet-wide junkyard, seeking to reclaim and recondition reusable or obsolete machinery, leading to Lotho Minor's reputation as the Junk World.

Following his defeat at the hands of the Jedi Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi during the Battle of Naboo in 32 BBY, the shattered body of Darth Maul, a Dathomirian Zabrak Sith Lord, was discarded among Lotho Minor's trash via a container of waste water originating from Naboo. As his sanity deteriorated, Maul lived in hiding for over a decade in the caves beneath Lotho Minor's surface, surviving on trash and vermin. His strong desire to live motivated him to rebuild himself, replacing his severed legs with spider-like legs constructed from the planet's scrap metal. At one point, Maul was attacked by Lotho Minor's vermin, eventually killing one of the insects and eating it raw. He also destroyed a fire-breather processing machine by hurling his lightsaber into it. An Anacondan named Morley pulled Maul into his lair out of curiosity, presuming he would make a good meal, but was proven otherwise. Morley instead cut a deal with Maul in order to survive, agreeing to lure unwitting prey into Maul's clutches in return for his leftovers.

At some point, Maul attempted to escape Lotho Minor by luring a starship that he could escape in. He sent out a transmission that offered a large amount of credits for capturing him. The transmission would eventually be heard by Spikewheel, the droid captain of the starship Salvage-1, who traveled to the planet a week later. She stranded the Nikto Gritz, who aspired to become the droid's first mate and was tasked with capturing Maul, along with three other crew member hopefuls—the human Brennar, the Theelin Riki, and the Roonan Seles—to serve as bait. Not long after Spikewheel left the group on the planet surface, they fell into Maul's subterranean lair subsequent to a quick scuffle with each other.

With the group trying to find their way within the dark labyrinth, Maul quietly grabbed Seles and separated him from the rest of the recruits, but Brennar soon found both Maul and the captured Roonan. As the duo was about to be killed by the insane Zabrak, Gritz managed to ensnare Maul in an electronet and save them. The recruits later returned to Spikewheel with the captured Zabrak aboard the Salvage-1. Before the ship could leave the planet's atmosphere, Maul freed himself and attacked the scavengers, splitting the droid captain in half. Riki subsequently opened the ship's rear hatch to ditch Maul; however, Gritz and the remains of his captain also fell from the ship along with Maul during the process, leaving the hapless Nikto to be killed by Maul while the other recruits escaped the planet. Years later, Vaneé, the Sith Lord Darth Vader's attendant, told the story of the salvagers to scare his prisoner, rebel Lieutenant Thom Hudd, at Vader's castle.

Lotho Minor maintained a neutral stance during the Clone Wars. In 20 BBY, Mother Talzin of the Dathomirian Nightsisters tasked Savage Opress with locating his long-lost brother, Maul, providing him with the Talisman of Finding to aid in his search. On the planet Stobar, the talisman led Opress to some dust clinging to an assortment of cargo crates that were being transported by a Sakiyan cargo hauler. Opress learned that the Sakiyan's Turtle Tanker had recently visited Lotho Minor and forced the hauler to take him there. When they arrived, Opress dropped the Sakiyan out of the ship in mid-air.

While scouring the planet's endless garbage wastes for his brother, Opress encountered Morley, who guided him past such threats as the enormous fire-breathers and a tribe of territorial Junkers, some of who were slain by the Zabrak. Morley lured Opress into Maul's lair, believing Lotho Minor's newest guest would be their next meal. At first, the two brothers wrestled with each other in the dark labyrinth of garbage, but Opress quickly recognized Maul and saw that his brother's mind had been shattered by his long-ago defeat. When Morley interrupted them to check on the status of their meal, Opress strangled the Anacondan to death for his treachery. At Opress' prodding, Maul soon remembered himself and vowed revenge on the Jedi. The brothers then traveled back to the world Dathomir, where Talzin repaired Maul's body and mind.

By the time of the Galactic Civil War between the Galactic Empire and the Rebel Alliance, a Duros named Akar Duel had come to consider Lotho Minor his own planet. He created many junk droids from the droid parts he collected on the planet and used restraining bolts to force them into his service. Sometime after the Battle of Yavin, a team of rebels consisting of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, and the protocol droid C-3PO traveled to Lotho Minor aboard the starship Millennium Falcon in search of a suitable location for a new base. Two of Duel's droids, Doc and Teetee, attempted to warn the rebels about the Duros, but he had already noticed their arrival.

Surrounding the rebels with his conscripted droids, Duel wanted to steal the Millennium Falcon; however, the droids turned against their master upon learning that C-3PO was allowed to have free will, unlike themselves, and they eventually gained their freedom. The rebels then quickly fled Lotho Minor, giving up the idea of establishing a base there. Sometime later, after leaving the planet themselves, Doc and Teetee told their story to Bazine Netal, a spy who was searching for the Millennium Falcon.

Another droid that found its way to Lotho Minor was a droideka that was at some point discovered by the Ugnaught Dizzy. Enthralled by the idea of the great speeds a machine like it could reach, Dizzy took ownership of the droid and heavily modified it. While on the planet, the Ugnaught also took the time to cobble together a racing suit based on material found on Lotho Minor, deciding not to be picky when it came to the options available. Dizzy and the droideka later entered the Hunters of the Outer Rim, a tournament held on the planet Vespaara in 9 ABY, going by the united persona of Slingshot.

The assassin droids 0-0-0 and BT-1 journeyed to the Wreck Belt orbiting Lotho Minor in 0 ABY, shortly after the former lost his original arms at the Battle of Vrogas Vas. Needing repair and supplies, the droids visited a workshop at the Belt, which was operated by a human mercenary technician named Ruen. While 0-0-0 was undergoing repairs, Ruen noticed that the droid carried a valuable personality matrix and attempted to steal it. As BT-1 halted Ruen's plans and threated to kill him, the two parties eventually agreed on leaving on good terms after the mechanic fulfilled the original deal. However, before leaving the workshop, BT-1 hacked into the shop's systems and granted Ruen's combat droids their independence. The droids soon turned against Ruen and killed him, detonating the entire workshop in the process.

Years later, around 3–4 ABY, the droid bounty hunter 4-LOM, having been reprogrammed and given a deadly new body, laid a trap in a derelict Hutt freighter located at Lotho Minor's Wreck Belt for his former partner, the Gand Zuckuss. Knowing he was walking into a trap but desperate to reunite with his only friend, Zuckuss traced the droid's signal and traveled to the Belt with a party of four other hunters—T'onga, Losha Tarkon, Bossk, and Tasu Leech—aboard the starship Edgehawk. Upon boarding the derelict ship, the team confronted the bounty droid, with Zuckuss disconnecting 4-LOM's head from his body and resetting the droid's personality.

In 34 ABY, the historian and author Eloc Throno marked Lotho Minor's location in a galaxy map published in his book Traveler's Guide to Batuu.

Lotho Minor served as the homeworld for the enigmatic Junkers, a population of modest size. These tribal inhabitants, composed of diverse species, presented themselves as an unusual fusion of organic life and mechanical components, leaving their origins shrouded in uncertainty. The planet's function as a galactic dumping ground, coupled with the Junkers' aggressive defense of their territory, discouraged extensive investigation into their culture and biology. The Junkers sustained themselves by scavenging scrap from their homeworld's surface, enhancing their modified bodies with cybernetic augmentations to replace limbs lost due to corrosive chemicals, radiation, or accidents. Their long-term residence on Lotho Minor blurred the distinction between their organic forms and the surrounding debris. Other microscopic natives to the world were exterminated millenia prior to the Clone Wars, with yet other creatures having been present for a number of centuries and thus were considered endemic.

The Clone Wars saw the cunning Anacondan named Morley call the Junk World his home. This serpentine being navigated the trash mountains, surviving by providing food to Darth Maul in exchange for the Sith Lord's discarded remnants during his exile. While the galactic civilization's refuse on Lotho Minor mostly remained still, the world also housed individuals whose ships had crashed and were seeking a way to leave, as well as those who had committed terrible acts and sought refuge there. Additionally, people hoping to discover valuable metals also made their home on the planet.

During the reign of the Empire, the Duros named Akar Duel resided on Lotho Minor, considering himself the planet's ruler. He forcefully employed numerous junk droids, including Doc, Teetee, and another droid with an EV-series unit's head. The droids of Lotho Minor experienced a pivotal moment when Duel's servants rebelled against him and achieved their freedom. Furthermore, a droideka spent some time on the planet before the Ugnaught Dizzy removed it.

The Sith Lord Darth Maul took refuge in a vast cavern beneath Lotho Minor's surface, hidden under mountains of garbage, during his exile. Maul's lair, accessible through a deep hole inside a surface shelter, consisted of extensive tunnels within the junk. The Wreck Belt, a mechanical debris field, orbited Lotho Minor, and it was there that the mechanic Ruen had his workshop.

Lotho Minor was conceived for "Brothers," the twenty-first installment of Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated television series' fourth season, which was initially broadcast on March 9, 2012. Kilian Plunkett and Pat Presley created several "spirit of" designs for Lotho Minor, and some concept art referred to the planet as "Lamoth." The StarWars.com Encyclopedia entry for Lotho Minor gave it the nickname "Junk World." Lotho Minor was first introduced in the Star Wars Legends continuity through The Wrath of Darth Maul, a young-adult novel by Ryder Windham that was published in January 2012. This narrative alluded to the events of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars episode "Brothers" before it aired on television.

Later, the planet was featured in a story titled "The Horned Devil!" in the first issue of the comic series Star Wars Adventures: Return to Vader's Castle, which was written by Cavan Scott, illustrated by Megan Levens, and released by IDW Publishing on October 2, 2019. Levens studied Lotho Minor's depiction in "Brothers" as preparation, basing her artwork on the episode's design decision to depict the planet's heaps of garbage and debris as indistinct, jagged shapes, implying that they were made up of unstable garbage that had been piled up over many years. She also stated that she saw the environment of the sinkhole and tunnels beneath Lotho Minor's surface as the remnants of an old structure or ship that had deteriorated under centuries of intense garbage and environmental pressure, designing the tunnels as either old corridors or enormous ducts.

Moreover, the 2021 mobile game Star Wars: Hunters includes an unlockable cosmetic item called "Lotho Racing Green" for Dizzy's droideka as a component of the playable character duo Slingshot in the game. This item paints the destroyer in a variety of dirty yellows, greens, and browns, echoing the surface aesthetic of Lotho Minor.

The sixty-second issue of De Agostini's Star Wars: Build the Millennium Falcon magazine, which was released around March 9, 2016, locates Lotho Minor in grid square I-7 of the Standard Galactic Grid as part of the Wazta sector. However, the 2020 Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: Traveler's Guide to Batuu and the 2021 Star Wars Droids Guide to a Galaxy Far, Far Away both place the planet in grid square I-17, as identified by Star Wars: The Force Awakens Beginner Game. Given that the 2022 Star Wars Galaxy Map also locates Lotho Minor in I-17, this article assumes that the Build the Millennium Falcon issue mentioned above is incorrect.

The same Build the Millennium Falcon issue also states that Lotho Minor was situated on the Lutrillian Cross, noting that it was the closest and largest hyperspace route to the Lotho Minor system. This is at odds with the route's location in relation to the planet on the Star Wars Galaxy Map. This article considers the data from Build the Millennium Falcon to be incorrect.

Build the Millennium Falcon 62 also implies that few people visited the planet's surface, which seems to contradict "Hoth and Other Planets in the Outer Rim," the fifty-ninth issue of De Agostini's Star Wars Encyclopedia reference booklets, which was released on January 12, 2022. According to the issue, junk dealers from all over the Outer Rim Territories were known to travel to the world. This article disregards the details offered by the former source.