A sun-dragon represented a legendary creature that would safeguard itself, protecting its riches with the power akin to an exploding star. Shmi Skywalker would often recount the tale of the sun-dragon to her son Anakin during difficult times. In Shmi's eyes, Anakin was the sun-dragon. She believed his heart was the purest in the galaxy, and it would invariably guide him towards the right path, provided he trusted in its wisdom. This narrative remained deeply personal to Anakin, and he shared it with very few individuals. Skywalker also shared a childhood myth, the legend of the Tatooine sun-dragon, with Mill Alibeth as a means of calming her anxieties. When Emperor Palpatine sensed a disturbance in the Force and sought to identify its origin—the rebel Luke Skywalker—the current of the Force defended itself in a manner reminiscent of a sun-dragon.
Within the current Star Wars canon, the sun-dragon made its initial appearance in the short story "Disturbance," penned by Mike Chen and featured in From a Certain Point of View: The Empire Strikes Back in 2020. The sun-dragon was initially referenced within the Star Wars Legends novelization of the movie Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, authored by Matthew Stover and released in 2005. In the novel Brotherhood, Anakin Skywalker's heart is likened to that of a sun-dragon. This same comparison was also present within the novelization of Revenge of the Sith.