The Written Word

The Written Word presents a six-page in-universe exploration of several written languages utilized in the galaxy. It's organized into distinct sections based on different scripts: Aurebesh, High Galactic alphabet, Tionese, Sith writing systems, Trade Federation Basic, Other systems, and Further reading. The article features illustrations that showcase the application of these scripts within the Star Wars setting. The in-universe author is identified as Dr. Milanda Vorgan, and the article is presented as an excerpt from The Shafr Anthology of Galactic Language, Second Edition. The piece delves into the development and application of these writing systems, providing examples of their usage and their evolution over time.

John Hazlett, the mind behind The Written Word, had previously penned StarWars.com Databank entries for Cane Adiss and Slyther Bushforb. These earlier works were featured in the Hyperspace section of Star Wars.com, under the heading "What's The Story?". Before The Written Word, Hazlett's contributions were published under the pseudonym "jSarek," and he received further acknowledgement as "Ris_jSarek" in The Essential Atlas (2009), authored by Jason Fry and Daniel Wallace. Prior to writing The Written Word, which marked his first official Star Wars article, Hazlett was an administrator on the fan-maintained Star Wars encyclopedia, Wookieepedia.

Hazlett discovered that the Star Wars Miniatures Battles Companion (1994) indicated that Basic was written using various systems. This idea was supported by the Corporate Sector Authority logo, which displayed both Aurebesh and Latin characters side by side. Building on this, Hazlett retconned the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew alphabets as writing systems within the Star Wars universe, since they had appeared in canon material without prior explanation.

In crafting the article, Hazlett adopted the approach of using an in-universe author, selecting Milanda Vorgan, who originally served as an assistant to Garv Debble in The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook (1996). To add depth to the character, Hazlett portrayed her as a professor at the University of Charmath, which originated in The Star Wars Sourcebook (1987). He gave the article an in-universe title: "The Written Word: A Brief Introduction to the Writing Systems of Galactic Basic," and attributed it to the Shafr Center, drawing from "Race for the Tessent," an article published in Star Wars Gamer 9 (2002). To begin the article, Hazlett chose a quote from his favorite Star Wars character, Voren Na'al—specifically from The New Essential Chronology (2005), a reference book that, in turn, cited Na'al as its in-universe author.

While Hazlett acknowledged "Basic" as the standard term for the common language in Star Wars, he had observed variations: "Galactic Basic" in Star Wars Miniatures Battles (1991) and "Galactic Standard" in both Star Wars (1977) 50 (1981) and the copyright page of Galactic Phrase Book & Travel Guide (2001). He theorized that these different terms were shortened versions of a longer, official name, and thus combined them to form "Galactic Basic Standard." Old Galactic Standard, which Hazlett identified as the origin of Basic, had been mentioned in Abel G. Peña's article "The Emperor's Pawns," featured in Star Wars Gamer 5 (2001). Hazlett pointed out that the language was known by Arden Lyn, a character who lived during the First Great Schism, around the time the Galactic Republic was established, leading him to connect Old Galactic as an earlier version of "modern" Basic.

Hazlett began by discussing the in-universe Aurebesh writing system, created by Stephen Crane for the Star Wars Miniatures Battles Companion. Crane's design was based on a script seen in Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi (1983). Hazlett noted that Aurebesh had since appeared in the Prequel trilogy, the 2004 DVD release of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, the TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and numerous other products, making it the most prevalent writing system in the Star Wars universe. Given that the characters initially shown in Return of the Jedi translated into a meaningless, repeating pattern, Hazlett suggested alternative ways to interpret Aurebesh, citing the abjad of the Azure Imperium, which originated in Coruscant and the Core Worlds (2003), as a potential candidate. Abjads, as Hazlett explained on his blog, require readers to infer vowels based on the context of the sentence. Since the Azure Imperium included Anaxes, a world linked to the Imperial Navy, Hazlett suggested that the readout displayed on a control panel of the Imperial battleship Executor in Return of the Jedi might have used the abjad.

Hazlett linked the Aurebesh characters to Rakatan symbols, noting that some of the icons on the Star Maps in Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003) resembled variations of Aurebesh symbols. Considering the limited number of symbols, he classified Rakatan writing as logographic, where each symbol represents a different word. The concept of adapting an alphabet from characters of a different system has historical precedent: Sequoyah of the Cherokee used Latin characters to create the Cherokee syllabary, assigning them entirely different sounds. In the Aurebesh section, Hazlett mentioned the Pre-Corellian language, which originated in the Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide; the Tionese War from Geonosis and the Outer Rim Worlds (2004); and the character of Rin Assid, who was first referenced in Han Solo and the Corporate Sector Sourcebook (1993).

When retconning High Galactic to align with the appearance of Latin characters in the Star Wars universe, Hazlett acknowledged the ambiguity of whether the Latin characters were actually present or simply "translated" for the audience's benefit. He explained on his blog that this ambiguity mirrored the nature of spoken Basic, which might be English or something else entirely, again "translated" for the consumer. The name "High Galactic" originated from Star Wars (1977) 7 (1978) and was later confirmed as a common language in the Star Wars Roleplaying Game Saga Edition Core Rulebook (2007). Given that the Latin alphabet incorporates characters from the Greek alphabet, Hazlett considered it important to connect their in-universe counterparts, noting that the creators of High Galactic, the Alsakanese, borrowed from the Tionese language.

Hazlett created the Republic Census, drawing inspiration from the Imperial Census featured in Star Wars (1977) 31 (1980). To account for the Latin signatures that appeared in West End Games products like The Truce at Bakura Sourcebook (1996), the Heir to the Empire Sourcebook (1992), and the Dark Empire Sourcebook (1993), Hazlett established that most Human signatories would officially use the High Galactic alphabet. He also stated that High Galactic was commonly used in advertisements, explaining the Latin characters on many in-universe logos in West End Games products, as well as the "sound slugs" shown in Galaxy Guide 9: Fragments from the Rim (1993), which served as an in-universe method of storing music. When citing companies that used High Galactic in their logos, Hazlett primarily referenced those already established in canon but also created Chrono-Bios Publishing, a nod to the Time–Life publishing house, intended as the creator of the in-universe periodical "Chrono." Since Hazlett observed that the names of C-3PO and R2-D2 were often phonetically represented as "See-Threepio" and "Artoo-Detoo," he believed that their names were not translated from Aurebesh. Therefore, he established that they were typically identified in High Galactic. His mention of knock-off droids using Aurebesh was inspired by a comment from Daniel Wallace, who once quipped, "...who could ever forget that great droid duo, Reshtoo-Dorntoo and Cresh-Threepethosk?"

Hazlett's next section focused on the Tionese language, which he positioned as the analogue to the Greek alphabet. Brian Daley created the Tion Cluster in Han Solo and the Lost Legacy (1980), and the Old Tionese language originated in Shadows of the Empire (1996). The publication of the Hyperspace article Xim Week: The History of Xim and the Tion Cluster on December 7, 2009, while Hazlett was still working on The Written Word, necessitated significant revisions due to the new historical insights it provided about the Tion Cluster. In the same section, Hazlett referenced the Cygnus Star Empire, which was initially introduced in the fan publication Book of Imperial Shuttle Plans: Cygnus Spaceworks (1984). Cygnus Spaceworks, which also originated in the fan publication, became canon in the computer game Star Wars: X-Wing (1993), and the Cygnus B system had appeared much earlier in Cantina Communications, published in Star Wars Official Poster Monthly 16 (1979). The prior appearances of Cygnus led Hazlett to believe it was reasonable to canonize the fanon "Cygnus Star Empire" as a result.

Hazlett initially planned to identify the Cygnus Star Empire as one of the Tionese splinter states within Xim's empire, but this idea was complicated by two new releases. First, The Essential Atlas (2009) placed the Cygnus B system far beyond Hutt Space, distant from the Tion Cluster. Second, the Xim Week article detailed all the splinter states, leaving no room for Hazlett to retcon the Cygnus Star Empire into the narrative. He struggled to reconcile the presence of a Tion enclave so far from the Cluster and so close to Hutt Space. However, a solution emerged with the release of another Xim Week article, part 1 of The Despotica (2009). This article mentioned that several of Xim's allies had defected to the Hutts, bribed by Kossak Inijic Ar'durv, allowing Hazlett to suggest that Cygnus was among these allies.

Hazlett observed that the Sith in Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — The Golden Age of the Sith (1996) and Tales of the Jedi: The Fall of the Sith Empire (1997) exhibited strong Egyptian influences, prompting him to establish an analogue between the two cultures. He did this by suggesting that their language originated as hieroglyphics, which then evolved into both an ecclesiastic script similar to the Hieratic system and a more common script like the Demotic script. Hazlett then referenced established facts about the Sith Empire from Abel G. Peña's Evil Never Dies: The Sith Dynasties (2006), as well as other Sith-related information from Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader (2005) by James Luceno, and "KOTOR Campaign Guide Web Enhancement 5: Karnak Tetsu, Sorcerer of Tund" (2008), also by Peña.

Hazlett then discussed several species associated with the Sith. The first was the Arkanians, whose Sith connections were established in The Essential Guide to Alien Species (2001). Next were the Myke, whom Hazlett noted had been linked to the Sith/Human hybrids from The Golden Age of the Sith by fans, due to their physical similarities. Hazlett solidified this connection and referenced the Kruskan from the Bounty Postings articles. What Hazlett identified as High Sith was intended to represent the writing featured in Tales of the Jedi: The Freedon Nadd Uprising (1994). Another script, Massassi, was meant to represent writing present in Ralph McQuarrie's art in The Illustrated Star Wars Universe (1995).

Fan analysis of Darth Vader's armor revealed that many versions of the costume featured Hebrew letters on the chest box. As this was the only context in which Hebrew characters appeared in Star Wars, Hazlett deemed it appropriate to make Sith the in-universe analogue for the script. To encompass other in-universe references to Hebrew, Hazlett linked Bunker 22-Aleph, Storinal from X-Wing: Wraith Squadron (1998), and Task Force Aleph from The New Jedi Order: Agents of Chaos II: Jedi Eclipse (2000) to the Sith language, connecting them to the Hebrew letter "Aleph" (א). To this end, he identified the Aleph-class starfighter from Legacy of the Force: Betrayal (2006) as having Sith connections. However, since the fighter's design resembled the Syriac "'Ālaph" more than the Aleph character, he clarified that it was named after a character from the Myke alphabet. Hazlett referenced Hanod from Wanted by Cracken (1993). He also attempted to resolve a discrepancy in The Essential Atlas, which stated that Supreme Chancellor Contispex I created the Ordnance/Regional Depots during the Pius Dea crusades, while Hazlett remembered that Ord Antalaha was established much later, during the Clone Wars, according to Pirates & Privateers (1997). By introducing another new Ordanance/Regional Depot that had been created after the Pius Dea crusades with the original Ord Dalet, Hazlett hoped to support the earlier example set by Pirates & Privateers.

Hazlett's next focus was the writing style prominently featured on Trade Federation equipment in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace (1999). Consulting Star Wars: The Complete Visual Dictionary (2006), Hazlett found that the script was identified as "Galactic Basic numerals," while the "Force Feedback" column in Star Wars Gamer 4 (2001) called it "Federation Basic." Finding the "Force Feedback" example less generic, he chose to reinforce it, fully identifying it as "Trade Federation Basic." Hazlett referenced the ancient phonetic origins of Durese covered in "The University of Sanbra Guide to Intelligent Life: The Duros," published in Star Wars Gamer 2 (2000). Although Ultimate Alien Anthology (2003) established Pak-Pak as a nonverbal language, Hazlett decided to follow the Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide's description, which identified it as a verbal language, considering the clear vocalizing abilities of the Duros and Neimoidians.

Hazlett's piece moved onto the two script variations present on Naboo in The Phantom Menace. When creating a history for Futhark, he referenced Naboo's origins, specifically Grizmallt and its Queen Tasia from The New Essential Chronology, the source of Naboo's beginnings. Daniel Wallace, the writer of The New Essential Chronology, included a subtle easter egg in Queen Tasia's name. In Spanish, "Queen Tasia" translates to "Reina Tasia," which is a reference to the Renatasia system from Lando Calrissian and the Flamewind of Oseon (1983). Hazlett honored Wallace's easter egg by creating the Palazzo Reina. Hazlett portrayed a cultural faux pas by the notoriously clumsy Senator Jar Jar Binks to showcase the orthographic divergence between Naboo and Grizmallt over time. Hazlett included Binks because the character had rarely appeared in material after Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith (2005). The author noted that the N-1 starfighter's readouts, flown by Anakin Skywalker in The Phantom Menace, are in Aurebesh, pointing out that Naboo starships used the more common script.

Hazlett's final Star Wars script examination focused on what he called Atrisian script, a writing system commonly featured in games like X-wing and Star Wars: Dark Forces (1995). Hazlett was not aware that the script had previously appeared in Return of the Jedi, as demonstrated by a picture in the article upon release. The Atrisian Empire, along with its key details and history, originated in "From the Files of Corellia Antilles," published in Star Wars Adventure Journal 14 (1997); however, Hazlett introduced a new element to its history with the Six Savage Viziers, which he was particularly proud of. Hazlett drew parallels between Peter the Great's's Cyrillic alphabet reforms and the script's history. He used the in-universe reforms to account for variations between the script in X-wing and Dark Forces, and the small, nearly illegible writing originally identified as Atrisian script in "From the Files of Corellia Antilles."

Hazlett referenced the Special Acquisitions Branch from the Imperial Sourcebook (1994), as well as the Tiss'shar species, which he particularly admired. The Bureau of Operations' Infiltration branch's appreciation for Uueg Tching's writings also came from the Imperial Sourcebook. Hazlett directly cited the script's use in Dark Forces, as well as its appearance on a replicated monitor on the Death Star in Star Wars Screen Entertainment (1994). Hazlett also referenced General Mohc, the main antagonist in Dark Forces. He established Mohc's Atrisian heritage, believing it aligned with the character's portrayal in the game and the history in The Dark Forces Saga (2005). Hazlett created two new authors of the Third Atrisian period. It had been suggested that "Uueg Tching" was a phonetic reference to West End Games' acronym, "WEG," so he used the new names to reference other Star Wars hobby game licensees—Uuotse and Daysaifor as nods to "WOTC" and Decipher, respectively. Hazlett made further references to West End Games products with the phrase "salting the ether," from Galaxy Guide 9, and the character of Crix Masst from Wanted by Cracken.

The "Further reading" section, a late addition, became one of Hazlett's favorites, providing a more natural conclusion and greater in-universe context. The author created numerous in-universe works from scratch. Hazlett intended Writing in Basic: An Orthographic Chrestomathy to be an anthology of example texts chronicling Basic's development. He envisioned it containing significantly more texts than The Written Word. The History and Development of the Human Languages, Volume I was credited to Dr. Arner Figgis, from "Old Corellian: A Guide for the Curious Scholar," published in Star Wars Adventure Journal 7 (1995). Hazlett's interpretation of the character suggested a more verbose title, similar to Edward Gibbons' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1776), and Winston Churchill's A History of the English-Speaking Peoples (1956).

Another "referenced" work was Star Maps and Scripts: The Rakata Connection, attributed to Dr. Corellia Antilles and Gideon Na'al. Antilles originated in "The Gree Enclave" from Star Wars Adventure Journal 8 (1995), but had limited exposure outside the Adventure Journal. Hazlett believed his reference would be considered "fresh," but before The Written Word's publication, the character appeared in Adrick Tolliver's Death in the Slave Pits of Lorrd (2009), The Essential Atlas, and The History of Xim and the Tion Cluster. Gideon Na'al was intended as one of Voren Na'al's children from The Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook, named after his maternal grandfather, Gideon Tarkin. Hazlett initially identified the character as a Doctor, but removed the reference, realizing he would likely be too young for a doctorate. The last work Hazlett mentioned was Huttese Ain't What It Used To Be, "authored" by Dribba Vermilic Scaiti. This character was personally significant to Hazlett, as he was one of his player characters, a young, trend-bucking Hutt named "Yuba Vermilic Scaiti," in several Star Wars roleplaying campaigns.

Beyond the works that were crucial to Hazlett's work and the development of The Written Word, the article contains numerous connections to the broader Expanded Universe continuity. The Aurebesh chart is a slightly altered version of the one in Star Wars Gamemaster Screen, Revised (1996), and the Aurebesh section references Expanded Universe elements such as Duro from Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back (1989), Axum from Coruscant and the Core Worlds, the Perlemian Trade Route from Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game, Second Edition (1992), and Foerost from Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi — The Sith War (1996). The High Galactic section references Alsakan from the Dark Empire Sourcebook, the HoloNet from Galaxy Guide 3: The Empire Strikes Back, and Industrial Automaton from Galaxy Guide 7: Mos Eisley (1993), among others. Images from The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels (2003) and Star Wars Miniatures Battles Companion were repurposed for illustration. Hazlett referenced the "R-22 Spearhead," a vehicle created by Daniel Wallace in The New Essential Guide to Characters (2002) to stand in for early appearances of RZ-1 A-wing interceptors, before their supposed in-universe creation.

The Tionese section was illustrated with images of Nu-class attack shuttle from Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008), the Theta-class T-2c shuttle from Revenge of the Sith, and the Lambda-class T-4a shuttle from Return of the Jedi. A slightly altered illustration of Attack Pattern Delta from The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook (1990), with most of the text removed, was also used. Hazlett made several references to Lawrence Holland's X-Wing computer game series, mentioning the Greek-named squadrons, the Alpha-class Xg-1 Star Wing from Star Wars: X-wing, and the Delta-class JV-7 escort shuttle from Star Wars: TIE Fighter (1994). Hazlett referenced the Mu-2 class long range shuttle from Galaxy Guide 8: Scouts (1993), and the Telgorn Corporation from the Imperial Sourcebook, among other continuity nods.

The Sith section featured a repurposed image of Darth Vader's chest panel from Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary (1998). Hazlett referenced Ziost from Tales of the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith, Jaguada from Dark Lord: The Rise of Darth Vader, and Tund from Lando Calrissian and the Starcave of ThonBoka (1983). For the Trade Federation Basic section, a chart from the "Force Feedback" column in Star Wars Gamer 4 was modified and reused as an illustration. Hazlett referenced the Trade Federation's nationalization, established in "Republic HoloNet News Special Inaugural Edition 16:5:24" from Star Wars Insider 84 (2005).

The Futhark and Futhork section had an original image—a chart comparing Latin characters to Futhork characters. While most references in that section were key to Hazlett's article development, he also referenced Nubia, established as a planet in Coruscant and the Core Worlds. In the Atrisian script section, Hazlett heavily referenced West End Games material but introduced new continuity elements, including Uuotse, Daysaifor, and Tra-Skan-Lor. Although The Written Word has influenced the use of Latin, Greek, and Hebrew characters in Star Wars material, the article itself hasn't been directly referenced in later works.

Since its publication, some continuity issues have emerged. One such issue is the emergence of the Sith language, developed in Book of Sith: Secrets from the Dark Side (2012) and expanded upon in "Speak Like a Sith" by Ben Grossblatt from Star Wars Insider 134 (2012). This constructed language differs significantly from Hazlett's established High Sith and Common Sith writing systems. Additionally, the Aurabesh script was used in John Ostrander and Jan Duursema's Star Wars: Dawn of the Jedi comic series, notably in issues like The Prisoner of Bogan 1 (2012), set before Hazlett's original timeline for the script's first use. Hazlett has speculated that this discrepancy could be attributed to the "inaccuracy" of Dr. Vorgan's in-universe writings.

The Written Word was released on March 5, 2010, and received positive feedback in its comments section on StarWars.com. Praising the article were Tim Veekhoven (Swilla Corey in the Databank) and Edward M. Erdelac (Fists of Ion). On the Jedi Council Forums, Hazlett was lauded by Daniel Wallace, Kyle Jewhurst (Nem Bees in the Databank), Nathan O'Keefe (Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Praji), Greg Mitchell (Dusty Duck in the Databank), Aidan Hennessy (Pello Scrambas in the Databank), and Adrick Tolliver. However, O'Keefe and Hennessy questioned the need to retroactively establish the Latin alphabet as an in-universe script, rather than a fourth-wall convention for viewers and readers.

Paul R. Urquhart, a reviewer and later co-author of The Essential Guide to Warfare (2012), gave the article a glowing review on TheForce.Net, praising Hazlett's work for its "charming playfulness" and accessibility to casual fans. Urquhart was reminded of J. R. R. Tolkien's prefaces to The Lord of the Rings; he called it a "splendid first contribution" to canon from Hazlett, despite his previous Databank entries. Hazlett later wrote endnotes for his work and was asked by Daniel Wallace about the significance of the Hebrew lettering on Darth Vader's chest box. Hazlett acknowledged the contested fan translation of "His Deeds Will Not Be Forgiven Until He Merits" but conceded that its purpose may be purely functional.