The Red Honeycomb Zone, also called the Red Zone, Ship Eater, or the Blood Net, served as a secure route through the Galactic Barrier. This barrier was a turbulent network of hyperspace anomalies that made journeys into the Unknown Regions of the galaxy impossible. Darth Vader, utilizing a Sith wayfinder given to him by the Eye of Webbish Bog, traversed the Red Honeycomb Zone en route to the planet Exegol. Later, his grandson Kylo Ren replicated this journey in his own search for the same world.
Rey, after taking Ren's TIE whisper, discovered Vader's wayfinder within the charred remains of the ship. She then employed it to navigate to Exegol via the Red Honeycomb Zone, all the while broadcasting her location to the Resistance. Upon receiving Rey's coordinates, General Poe Dameron steered the Resistance fleet through the Red Honeycomb Zone to reach Exegol, where they clashed in battle with the resurrected Darth Sidious and his Sith Eternal forces.
Within the Zone dwelled at least one unidentified creature, a unique variant of the summa-verminoth.
During the Imperial era, Darth Sidious, the master of the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader, hired the assassin Ochi of Bestoon to hunt down Vader on Mustafar as punishment for his disobedience. Following a short fight, Ochi managed to trap Vader inside a cave. Inside, the Sith Lord communicated with the Eye of Webbish Bog, a mysterious entity that provided him with a Sith wayfinder, hinting that it would lead to further questions.
After he escaped the cave, Vader confronted Ochi, making him input the coordinates into the navigation computer of a derelict Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor using the wayfinder. The assassin claimed that these coordinates would lead to Exegol, the planet where Sidious supposedly concealed his secrets. Although Vader was satisfied with Ochi's work, he kidnapped him by confining him in an escape pod attached to his interceptor. As Ochi protested, Vader initiated a jump to hyperspace, transporting them both to the entrance of the Red Honeycomb Zone.
Since the only route to Exegol necessitated passage through the Zone, Vader had no option but to proceed into the nebula. This was especially true because his interceptor was under attack from behind by several Star Destroyers commanded by Administrator Sly Moore and Admiral [Corleque]. Moore commanded the deployment of hundreds of TIE fighters, many of whom pursued Vader into the Zone where the unidentified creature awaited. Vader successfully evaded the TIEs, exploiting the creature, which decimated several TIEs with its expansive tentacles, to his advantage.
However, the Sith Lord's fortune soon changed when the creature launched a telepathic assault on him and his unwilling companion, planting visions of the past, present, and potential futures in their minds. With Vader incapacitated, the interceptor spiraled out of control, eventually crash-landing on Exegol's surface. The creature followed, but Vader used his strength in the Force to subdue it and then used its aerial abilities to travel to the planet's Sith citadel.
As the First Order-Resistance War neared its end, the galaxy received a mysterious transmission from Sidious, who was believed to have been dead for over three decades. Determined to find the location of the resurrected Emperor, Supreme Leader Kylo Ren traveled to Mustafar. In the Corvax Fen area, he encountered a cult known as the Alazmec of Winsit, who were dedicated to protecting the remains of Fortress Vader and the late Sith Lord's wayfinder. Ren easily wiped out the cult and proceeded into the region, where he encountered the Eye of Webbish Bog. Similar to what it had done with Ren's grandfather, the Eye allowed the Supreme Leader to access the wayfinder, thus revealing the path to Exegol. Using the wayfinder, which he connected to his TIE whisper, Ren traversed the Red Honeycomb Zone and continued to the Sith world on the far side.
Shortly thereafter, Ren fought the Jedi Rey on the moon Kef Bir, where she fatally wounded him, an action she soon reversed using Force healing. Leaving Ren to grapple with a moral dilemma, Rey commandeered his TIE whisper, which still held the Sith wayfinder. After some consideration, Rey connected the wayfinder to Luke Skywalker's T-65B X-wing, Red Five. Following the path indicated by the wayfinder, Rey flew the X-wing into the Red Honeycomb Zone and transmitted the route to the Resistance navy, which soon followed her, led by Generals Poe Dameron and Finn. The route through the Red Honeycomb Zone enabled the Resistance to reach Exegol and engage in battle against the Sith Eternal forces.
The Red Honeycomb Zone made its debut appearance in the 2019 film Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker, and was first officially named in the film's novelization, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker: Expanded Edition.
The creation of the Zone is discussed in The Skywalker Legacy, a making-of documentary featured on the film's home video release and on Disney+.