The Royal Slave Auction on Zygerria
The practice of holding beings in bondage, known as slavery, involved treating sentient beings as possessions, allowing them to be bought, sold, and owned. Those subjected to this treatment, often called slaves, were forced into labor by their enslavers, also called "owners" or "masters." This included those who captured individuals with the intention of selling them into slavery. Although the Judicial Forces of the Old Republic, aided by the Jedi, aimed to dismantle the Zygerrian slave trade, slavery persisted beyond the Republic's reach. Despite being illegal in the democratic Republic, criminal organizations like the Hutt Clan continued the practice on Outer Rim planets such as Tatooine. In their Declaration of Rebellion, the Alliance to Restore the Republic proclaimed that all beings in the galaxy were "born free under the auspices of nature." However, the Galactic Empire, an authoritarian regime, secretly enslaved non-human species like the Wookiees to use as forced labor. The Empire also collaborated with criminal groups like the Pykes at the spice mines of Kessel, where enslaved organics were chained and enslaved droids were fitted with restraining bolts. These individuals were forced to risk their lives harvesting the dangerous spice for trade. The Rebellion succeeded in establishing the New Republic, but even by the time of the First Order's rise, its influence didn't extend to criminal havens like Kijimi City. Yet, even the criminals of that anarchic city did not welcome slavers and offered them no refuge.
Indentured servitude was ostensibly a separate arrangement where sentient beings worked for a set duration or until a debt was settled, after which they gained freedom. However, indentured servitude often became a form of slavery in practice. Individuals in this state were known as indentured servants, but the term was often a softer way of saying "slave." Another such term was "sentient property," which the Czerka Corporation used in official documentation to provide a semblance of legitimacy to their enslavement practices.
Labor was a common purpose for slavery. The Galactic Empire enslaved Wookiees due to their strength and capacity for extended work in harsh environments. Some Hutt crime lords enslaved female humanoids, forcing them to wear revealing dancing-girl costumes as entertainers. Twi'leks were particularly sought after by slavers due to their perceived beauty.
Children born to enslaved (or indentured) parents were regarded as slaves (or indentured servants) belonging to their parents' master. Slave owners could choose to free their slaves, even marry them, though such unions were rare. Notably, Cliegg Lars bought, freed, and then married Shmi Skywalker, the mother of Anakin Skywalker, who later became a Jedi Knight. The death of a slave owner could also lead to the slaves' freedom. Leia Organa achieved freedom by killing her captor, Jabba the Hutt, which also liberated many of the gangster's other slaves.
Various methods were employed to prevent enslaved individuals from escaping or rebelling. Some slaves had transmitter chips implanted that would detonate if they attempted to escape. Others were fitted with neck collars, sometimes attached to chains held by the master. Zygerrians frequently used shock collars to electrocute slaves into submission.
Many individuals, though not formally enslaved, lived in conditions akin to slavery, enduring difficult jobs for meager earnings while facing corrupt Imperial officials. Identity contracts, known as "ident pads," identified individuals as indentured servants or slaves. Both groups could be tried for revolting against their masters.
Historically, ancient empires controlled by the Sith depended on enslaved labor. During the Old Republic era, Zygerria controlled a vast Slave Empire spanning numerous sectors, making the planet wealthy and powerful. For millennia, they and their customers profited from slavery, but the Jedi Order eventually fought and destroyed the Zygerrian slave trade. With the outlawing of slavery in Republic territories, the Jedi Knights freed many beings, pushing the trade into the criminal underworld.
Although their influence was greatly diminished, the Zygerrians continued to operate in the slave trade through the Zygerrian Alliance, which publicly purported to be a legitimate business guild. After the alliance supported a coup on the planet Aaloth, Lourna Dee, the heir to the title of Keeper of Aaloth, was sold into slavery and taken to a Zygerrian camp. However, Jedi Master Oppo Rancisis later led a raid on the camp, freeing those held there. Dee eventually joined the Nihil marauders and helped them seize control of Aaloth. Despite this conflict, the Nihil established relations with the Zygerrians and sold them slaves.
Although outlawed by the Galactic Republic, slavery persisted in areas outside its jurisdiction. The Outer Rim planet of Tatooine had an enslaved population in Mos Espa, with slaves implanted with transmitter chips that would explode upon escape attempts. By 40 BBY, Hosnian Prime hosted a factory complex run by Czerka Arms, an arms manufacturer that used slavery, forcefully taking all the workers they wanted. The Neimoidians also used indentured worker drones whose growth was deliberately stunted. These drones were even employed by the Trade Federation's senatorial delegation within the Republic's Senate Building. In 32 BBY, individuals such as Anakin Skywalker, Shmi Skywalker, Wald, Kitster Banai, and Erdan were enslaved in Mos Espa.
During the Clone Wars between the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems, the Grand Army of the Republic consisted of loyal clone troopers. However, Clone Sergeant "Slick" came to believe that the clones were enslaved by the Jedi Order, though he was taken into custody during the Battle of Christophsis. By 20 BBY, Queen Miraj Scintel exploited the conflict to revive Zygerria's ancient slave empire. After making a deal with Separatist leader Count Dooku, Zygerrian forces under Commander Darts D'Nar enslaved the Togruta colonists on the Expansion Region world of Kiros. In response, Jedi Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Ahsoka Tano, and Clone Captain "Rex" undertook an undercover mission to Zygerria to investigate the Zygerrians and free the Togruta colonists.
However, Queen Scintel captured them, intending to enslave them, which went against the Sith's plans for the Great Jedi Purge, leading to her assassination by Count Dooku. Jedi and Republic forces then managed to rescue some of the enslaved Togruta from the slave processing facility on Kadavo, and destroyed the facility.
In the early years of the Galactic Empire, Zygerrian raiders attacked Syngia Station in the Sertar sector, enslaving many inhabitants. Penn Zarang, who later became an Imperial cadet at the Arkanis Academy, survived by hiding in a maintenance conduit. The murder of his father and the death of his mother while en route to Zygerria motivated Penn to become an Imperial cadet. The raid occurred before the Imperial Military had expanded into the Outer Rim.
During the Age of the Empire, slavery became widespread again, especially targeting alien species considered inferior by the human-dominated Galactic Empire. The relaxation and eventual repeal of anti-slavery laws led to the classification of species like the Wookiees as non-sentient. As a result, Wookiees were forced into slavery, building much of the Imperial war machine or working in the notorious spice mines of Kessel after the Empire's conquest of their homeworld of Kashyyyk. Similarly, the reptilian Bodach'i were enslaved and forced to labor in the spice mines of Kerev Doi as "reparations" for their homeworld's defiance of Imperial decrees. The Empire also used slaves from various alien species to maintain continuous operation of Weapons Factory Alpha, the largest weapons factory in the galaxy, on Cymoon 1. Around 18 BBY, followers of the Kilji way of order and enlightenment were slaves of their Kilji masters, unable to move or think without them.
After being given command of the Imperial-class Star Destroyer Chimaera, Commodore Thrawn discovered the Empire's Wookiee slave trafficking after responding to a distress call from the troop transport Sempre. An attack force consisting of the frigate Castilus and two squadrons of V-19 Torrent starfighters had liberated the slaves. The insurgents then attacked Baklek Base. Thrawn led a successful military operation to neutralize the insurgents, forcing their surrender. When Lieutenant Commander Eli Vanto expressed discomfort with slavery, Thrawn attempted to justify the Empire's actions.
During the Grysk conquests in the Unknown Regions and the subsequent Imperial–Grysk conflict, the Grysk Hegemony used large numbers of slaves to advance their conquests and fight their battles. The Grysks often enslaved entire species by exploiting their weaknesses and breaking their spirits. They sought to conquer the Chiss Ascendancy by enslaving and torturing the Chiss' valued ozyly-esehembo navigators. Among the species enslaved by the Grysks were the Darshi and the Scratchlings.
After Imperial forces rescued navigator Un'hee, who had been enslaved by the Grysks, her fellow navigator Vah'nya connected with her mind through Second Sight. Vah'nya told Lieutenant Eli Vanto that she experienced the Grysks probing Un'hee's mind and soul, twisting her deepest desires and fears to force her compliance. She convinced Vanto that such enslavement was worse than death, asking him to kill her and any other ozyly-esehembo if they were captured by the Grysks. Killing a Chiss navigator was a capital offense in the Chiss Ascendancy, so deeply ingrained that no Chiss could conceive of it. Vanto promised that, if necessary, he would kill captured ozyly-esehembo to spare them Grysk slavery, doing so in a way that would kill as many Grysks as possible.
In 4 ABY, Princess Leia Organa was captured and enslaved by Jabba the Hutt while attempting to rescue Han Solo. However, Organa freed herself by killing the gangster, also freeing many of Jabba's other slaves. This earned her the admiration of the Niktos, a species heavily enslaved by the Hutts. Jabba's death profoundly impacted the criminal underworld, weakening the Hutt clan and creating a power vacuum on Tatooine and the Kessel spice trade routes.
Following the Battle of Endor, the New Republic's provisional Galactic Senate in Chandrila dedicated significant resources to compensating alien species enslaved by the Galactic Empire. In 5 ABY, Han Solo and Chewbacca led a successful Wookiee uprising on Kashyyyk against Grand Moff Lozen Tolruck, the leader of Imperial territory G5-623. One of Tolruck's subordinates, Commandant Theodane Sardo, considered farming enslaved Wookiees for meat. As part of the plan, former Imperial loyalty officer Sinjir Rath Velus disabled the inhibitor chips controlling the enslaved Wookiees using a hyperspace transceiver spike. Following a battle on the ground and in space above Kashyyyk, the planet was liberated by New Republic forces led by Admiral Ackbar and Leia Organa. Wookiee and New Republic forces later liberated more Wookiee slaves, including Chewbacca's son Lumpawaroo, in mopping-up operations against Imperial holdouts on Kashyyyk.
Despite the New Republic's ban on slavery, places like Chrome Citadel still exported enslaved individuals to Nal Hutta as "live cargo." Additionally, individuals were still indentured as servants. During an undercover mission to Sibensko, Senator Leia Organa assumed the identity of a recently freed indentured servant.
During the search for explorer Lor San Tekka, Agent Terex of the First Order's Security Bureau owned enslaved beings from various species, including an Abednedo and a Rodian. He justified this by claiming each alien served a purpose and citing the Empire's enslavement of Wookiees as precedent. Captain Phasma disapproved of his ownership of slaves, considering the First Order purer and stronger than the Empire.
Slavery was first depicted in the 1983 film Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, the third film in the Star Wars original trilogy. Early versions of Return of the Jedi planned for the second Death Star to be constructed in orbit around Kashyyyk, using Wookiee slave labor. George Lucas later moved the Death Star's location to the forest moon of Endor and replaced the Wookiees with Ewoks.
When drafting the young-adult novel Queen's Shadow, released on March 5, 2019, author E. K. Johnston collaborated with an editor to ensure the novel used active wording regarding enslavement, referring to someone as "enslaved" rather than "a slave." With support from the Lucasfilm Story Group, she hired an additional editor to review the script and used "souls" when referring to enslaved individuals to emphasize their humanity.
The novel Master & Apprentice by Claudia Gray, released on April 16 of the same year, also featured slavery as a central theme. She included Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn's encounter with enslavement on Pijal—meeting Rahara Wick—to provide context for his actions in the prequel trilogy film Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace. Gray also preferred using "enslavement" unless an enslaved individual referred to themselves as a "slave" or "former slave" in context, to remain sensitive to the issue. She kept usages of "slave" in Master & Apprentice to avoid softening the concept, noting that evil characters would objectify individuals and use derogatory terms.