Authored by Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace, The Essential Atlas represents the third iteration in the Essential Guide series. Del Rey released it to the public on August 18, 2009. Within its pages are detailed planetary summaries alongside comprehensive astronomical charts.
Embark on a journey through the Star Wars galaxy unlike any other, facilitated by this vibrant, fully illustrated compendium that meticulously maps out the entire cosmos.
You are familiar with the planets—ranging from Alderaan and Corellia to Tatooine and Zonama Sekot—as well as the various star systems, which extend from the Deep Core to the Outer Rim. However, now, for the first time ever, you have the ability to precisely locate them and trace the voyages of your beloved characters across the expansive reaches of space. Star Wars: The Essential Atlas serves as an all-encompassing repository of crucial data and insights, spanning from the astronomical and geographical ("Systems, Sectors, Oversectors and Regions") to the historical and political ("The Sith Empire" and "The Great Hyperspace War"). Encompassing the entirety of Star Wars canon, including all the films and The Clone Wars television series, in addition to the novels, comic books, video games, and beyond, this volume is replete with numerous intricate maps and charts, accompanied by relevant information and supporting facts on.
- the Empire : its geographic size, political divisions, populations, commercial pathways, notable landmarks, and problematic areas __
- the Clone Wars : the progression of this pivotal conflict across the galaxy, data pertaining to significant battles and prominent Loyalist and Separatist worlds __
- The Adventures of Han Solo: the daring smuggler's escapades throughout the galaxy—including his command of the Millennium Falcon and his momentous initial encounter with Chewbacca—prior to his life-altering partnership with Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi
- The Sith Wars: the unfolding of the galaxy-wide confrontation between the ancient Jedi Order, their dark side adversaries, and the Mandalorian warriors who waged war against both factions
- and much, much more
Spanning from Hutt Space to the Unknown Regions, and from the Knights of the Old Republic and Episode I to the Fate of the Jedi and Legacy era, Star Wars: The Essential Atlas stands as the definitive gateway to the most ingeniously conceived and perpetually captivating galaxy in space fantasy.
Dan Wallace, in his blog, assured his readership that the book would far surpass his earlier work on the subject, The Essential Guide to Planets and Moons, which prioritized plot summaries over detailed planetary descriptions. He characterized the book as "equal parts cosmology, planet profiles, political structure, colonization, history, the sweep and scale of wars, and bulleted lists presenting miscellaneous items of kewlness [sic]." Wallace also expressed his hope that it would more closely resemble earlier, more in-depth roleplaying game (RPG) resources, such as Platt's Starport Guide and Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook.
Wallace mentioned in another blog post that he and Jason Fry intended to utilize Jason's Systems Database during the writing process and aimed to incorporate all 3900 place names.
In February 2008, Dan revealed on his blog that the book had successfully navigated its initial editing phase and was nearing 120,000 words, but that further revisions and map creation were still required. He also alluded to several elements that might feature in the book but would not be considered canonical until its official release, including the Kymoodon Era, the Leech Legion (a region within the Unknown Regions inhabited by blind berserkers), Cosm's Well (an area of neutron stars, pulsars, and blue stragglers named by the Zeku), and the Tetrahedron (the birthplace of the Republic).
On February 24, 2009, as he neared the completion of editing, Dan shared additional excerpts from the book. Among the names mentioned in these excerpts were the Bedlam Pulsar (a location where omnipotent trans-dimensional entities exist within the stark whiteness that consumes the fabric of hyperspace), the Planetary Pioneers (a program that, along with the influence of the D'Asta family, ensured the loyalty of the New Territories to the Republic), the Ark of Baron Auletphant, the Zareca String (a hyperspace jump originating from Rishi that ascended perpendicularly to the galactic plane), and the Twenty Wonders of the Galaxy (compiled by Vicendi for his magnum opus Arturum Galactinum).
The authors' goal was to depict every canonical star system, either visually or through the inclusion of its coordinates in an appendix. This included systems from children's books, the RPG franchise, Classic Star Wars, and the Marvel Star Wars comic book series. Due to its expansive scope and formal nature, the atlas primarily focuses on showcasing star systems as opposed to individual planets, a departure from earlier maps that, for artistic purposes, depicted planets within a system as distinct locations. However, according to Jason Fry, systems may often be identified by the names of their most well-known planets, as these names tend to be more familiar to fans than the actual system names.
In addition to the aforementioned listing of planets, The Essential Atlas featured maps detailing various factions and historical periods, and it also presented an in-universe historical overview. Furthermore, The Essential Atlas was the first publication to officially name the factions depicted in the comic book series Dark Empire and Crimson Empire, naming them after the respective stories in which they originated.
The authors expressed their gratitude to the community of the Star Wars fan wiki Wookieepedia in the acknowledgment section at the beginning of the book.
Nathan Butler, a contributor to The Essential Atlas, credits Star Wars enthusiast Eddie van der Heijden, the webmaster of starwarstimeline.com, with deriving the Great ReSynchronization dates that appear within The Essential Atlas. The two also collaborated on establishing the timeline for the Star Wars: The New Jedi Order series. In the initial print run of the book, Van der Heijden's name was misspelled as "van der Hejiden" in the acknowledgments.
The book is not without a few typographical errors and inconsistencies.
- The Table of Contents incorrectly lists the section "Great Spacefaring Species" as "Great Seafaring Species."
- On page 160, in a discussion about spice, Hutts Jiliac and Jabba are mistakenly identified as leaders of the Besadii clan. In reality, Jiliac and Jabba were leaders of the rival Desilijic clan.
- On the map found on page 169, the word "firing" is misspelled as "firiring."
- On page 227, the Atlas incorrectly states that Darth Krayt overthrew Roan Fel in 137 ABY. The actual year of his overthrow was 130 ABY.
- It is asserted that Rhen Var lacks any moons, despite the presence of one being visible in both Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars: Battlefront (in all of the planet's on-screen appearances).
- ISBN 9780345477644 ; August 18 , 2009 ; Del Rey ; US paperback [1]