Today’s new “Rogue One” international TV spot gave us an all-new look at Jyn Erso’s past. In a tense moment, a woman who appears to be Jyn’s mother gives her a necklace with a crystal attached, and tells the girl to “trust in the Force.” Jyn holds on to that necklace through to adulthood, but what makes it important is that is is very likely a kyber crystal, a force-attuned stone most commonly known as the central power source of a lightsaber. If this actually is a kyber crystal, it will be the first one seen on-screen in a live action “Star Wars” film.
We’re not calling Jyn a Jedi, but the crystal she carries can have major implications about what she knows regarding the Death Star. So put away the lightsabers, listen up, and enjoy a quick history lesson on the relationship between kyber crystals and the first Death Star.
There’s plenty of Jedi lore surrounding kyber crystals, but that’s another story for another time. For now, here are the basics you should remember about the crystals when it comes to the lore of the Force: 1. Jedi Padawans often went on missions in which they had to find them. 2. Crystals remained colorless until Jedi bonded with them. 3. Sith could steal or find these crystals and corrupt them until they turned red.
Now, onto the meaty Rebel stuff…
The Death Star is directly powered by Kyber crystals. With the Sith Lord Palpatine in charge of the Empire, planets that were rich in crystals were mined for everything they had, and this included Ilum, where Ahsoka Tano took a group of Jedi younglings to find their first crystals.
This isn’t the first time Darth Sidious or the Sith have tried to create a superweapon from kyber crystals. “Long ago in forgotten times, when the Sith and Jedi fought for control of the galaxy, weapons there were, of unimaginable power,” Yoda says during “The Clone Wars.” “Always at their heart, a kyber crystal was.”
Just before the end of the Clone Wars, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker were tasked with protecting gigantic kyber crystals from falling into Separatist hands. The two Jedi ultimately destroyed the massive crystal, but Yoda was almost certain that Sidious would find another way to accomplish his plans.
Again in “Star Wars Rebels,” hints of the Death Star’s creation have grown just over the past few seasons. In the Season 1 episode “Breaking Ranks,” Twi’lek Pilot Hera Syndulla and former Jedi Kanan Jarrus destroy a crystal and the Imperial envoy that it’s on to prevent it from falling into the Emperor’s hands.
After Syndulla fired, the crystal exploded, and caused a massive electric storm, showing just how destructive it could be.
Here’s the thing about the Empire: During its reign, it would mine planets until there was nothing but dirt and poverty left, then it would find a way to keep the people of that planet malnourished enough to keep pulling what was left from the land. From Raada to Ryloth, this holds true. This leads into the following fact…
So, notorious for sapping planets of every last resource they had, it only made sense for the Empire to occupy Jedha, an ancient Jedi city that boasted a temple — and countless laser-powering kyber crystals.
Mads Mikkelsen’s Galen Erso seems like a man with very few options left.
Recent previews of the “Rogue One: Catalyst” novel by James Luceno hint at the fact that Erso is heavily indebted to Director Krennic after Krennic rescued his family from Confederacy kidnappers.
That debt might be doubled by the fact that the Empire is more than likely readying itself to sap the planet he calls home until there’s nothing left.
If the crystals were native, then Galen, a brilliant scientist in his own right, was likely already invested in studying them.
If Jyn’s mother was giving her a crystal native to their planet, the stakes for Galen were probably even higher than just his knowledge of the crystals.
Standing on what looks like a desolate, muddy, yet secluded version of a moisture farm, Erso faces Krennic with Death Troopers at his back. Erso looks like crap, and his family in this new trailer doesn’t look like they’re faring any better.
All of these strings led the Empire right back to Galen, with Krennic picking up that favor that Erso owed him from a couple decades before.
Galen Erso’s only sensible act of defiance against the Empire was to inform the Rebellion of the superweapon.
Presumably, this is when Galen also told them to find his daughter, Jyn.
