Pyro denton explosives, often shortened to dentons, represented a specific type of explosive device utilized from the early days of the Imperial Era through the First Order-Resistance War. These explosives were instrumental in the Resistance's triumph in destroying the First Order's Starkiller Base superweapon roughly thirty years after the pivotal Battle of Endor. A First Order defector, Finn, loaded them onto the Millennium Falcon, a YT-1300 light freighter commanded by Han Solo and his co-pilot Chewbacca, while the ship was stationed at the Resistance base on the planet D'Qar. After the trio journeyed to Starkiller Base and accomplished their objectives, Solo proposed using the explosives to inflict damage on the base's thermal oscillator, as the Resistance's air forces were struggling to achieve the same result. Solo and Chewbacca successfully planted the charges within the oscillator, but during this operation, Solo met his death at the hands of his son, Kylo Ren. This left Chewbacca to detonate the explosives, creating a sufficiently large opening in the oscillator for Resistance pilot Poe Dameron to enter and destroy it, ultimately leading to the base's complete annihilation.
Pyro denton explosives, sometimes simply called dentons, represented a specific type of explosive. These explosives could be manufactured as spheres or discs. They possessed the ability to adhere to vertical surfaces and emitted red lights upon activation. They were programmable to detonate via a remote device. The weight of these charges was such that a full satchel required the complete strength of a Wookiee to carry.
Soon after the establishment of the Galactic Empire, the renegade clone commandos of the Bad Batch possessed a pyro denton explosive among their provisions. Hunter decided to sell their last explosive to a trader on Pantora, believing it to be the only valuable item the squad possessed. However, the trader declined to pay the 1,800 credits Hunter sought, suggesting he try the black market instead. After Omega, a young clone under the Batch's protection, was nearly kidnapped by the bounty hunter Fennec Shand, Hunter detonated the charge to destroy a ComfortRide Passenger airspeeder Shand had seized, enabling him and Omega to escape.
Approximately thirty years following the Battle of Endor, Finn, a defector from the First Order, loaded a shipment of pyro denton explosives onto the YT-1300 light freighter, the Millennium Falcon, at the Resistance base on the planet D'Qar, in preparation for a mission aimed at destroying the First Order's Starkiller Base superweapon. He was unaware of the contents of the shipment until Han Solo, the captain of the Falcon, cautioned him to handle the explosives with care. Upon arrival at Starkiller Base, Solo's co-pilot, Chewbacca, carried the pyro denton explosives in a bag, anticipating their potential need. After Solo, Finn, and Chewbacca deactivated the base's shields and located their ally, Rey, Solo determined that the other Resistance forces attacking the base required additional support, and proposed using the explosives to damage the superweapon's thermal oscillator. The group separated, with Finn and Rey departing to secure access to the oscillator for Solo and Chewbacca.
Once they had successfully opened the doors, the two pilots quickly went inside and moved in different directions to place the explosives on each support column around the inside of the oscillator. Solo handed the detonator to Chewbacca, but while the captain was placing his portion of the explosives, he spotted his son, Kylo Ren, who had betrayed his family and aligned himself with the First Order, on the oscillator's central walkway. Solo tried to convince Ren to return with him to the Resistance, but Ren remained unpersuaded and killed his father. Enraged by his friend's death, Chewbacca shot Ren and then activated the explosives, fleeing as a large hole was blown in the side of the oscillator. This permitted Poe Dameron, a Resistance pilot, to fly into the oscillator and destroy it using his T-70 X-wing starfighter Black One. With the oscillator destroyed, Starkiller Base soon followed suit and exploded as forces from both sides of the battle retreated to safety.
Pyro denton explosives initially appeared in the film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, which premiered in 2015. Despite their crucial role in the film, the explosives remained unnamed, only being officially identified in the reference book Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary, authored by Pablo Hidalgo and released alongside the film. The explosives were also mentioned in various adaptations of the film, including the film's novelization by Alan Dean Foster and Star Wars: The Force Awakens: A Junior Novel by Michael Kogge, which featured additional dialogue about the explosives not present in the film. In both novelizations, Solo explains to Finn that he withheld information about the explosives to avoid frightening him. Later, Solo and Chewbacca conclude that they lack sufficient denton explosives to place one on every support column in the oscillator and instead place all of them on the single nearest column. As these scenes contradict the film, this article assumes that the film is correct and these interpretations are not canon.