“At the edge of the galaxy, so far away, black was the spire that called me to stay. A beacon for drifters forgotten and lost, the spire summoned those broken and tossed. Come stay here forever or just pass on through. The spirit of Black Spire will forever change you.” – From Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire by Delilah S. Dawson
The planet Batuu is located in the Western Reaches of the Outer Rim, at the very edge of the known and unknown regions of the Star Wars Galaxy. It was once home to an ancient civilization that has since been lost in the annals of history, with the lone exceptions being the ruins and petrified trees they left behind. Since Batuu’s location has never had any strategic value, it has since evolved into a way station for anyway hoping to find momentary sanctuary or remain under the radar for longer periods of time.
The settlement of Black Spire Outpost, meanwhile, is located in the Southern California locale of Anaheim and rests in the northwestern corner of Disneyland. The ruins of an ancient civilization dot the landscape, including a large black spire constructed from a petrified tree that sits in the center and gives the settlement its name. It likewise serves as a way station, albeit for travelers from throughout the United States and around the world who wish to experience life at the Galaxy’s Edge of the Star Wars Universe.
The Disneyland attraction became directly tied into that universe in 2019 with the release of Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire, a prose novel by Delilah S. Dawson. The narrative takes place between the films The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker, with the Resistance in shambles and desperate to find new allies and isolated places where they can regroup. Resistance spy Vi Moradi is thus sent to Batuu by General Leia Organa to establish a safe haven and recruit amongst the locals. Things don’t go as planned when Moradi’s starship crashes and her supplies are stolen, resulting in her having to start from scratch on the outskirts of Black Spire Outpost.
Along the way, Vi Moradi visits all the key sites of the Galaxy’s Edge in Disneyland, from Dok Ondor’s Den of Antiquities to Savi’s Workshop to Mubo’s Droid Depot. She drinks at Oga’s Cantina and eats at Ronto Roasters, all the while offering her own critiques of the various places she visits. “Every surface was crowded with droid-based wares, and colorful droid appendages dangled from a conveyor belt overhead, zooming around the room with lively proficiency,” Moradi says of the Droid Depot. “It had a junky but whimsical feeling, as if every droid, every part or upcycled project might be exactly what some customer was looking for.”
At the actual Droid Depot, visitors are able to pick-and-choose from those dangling appendages and parts to construct their own miniature droid. And while Savi’s Workshop is a secret depository for Jedi artifacts uncovered in the junk heaps of Batuu in Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire, inside the Savi’s Workshop at Disneyland visitors can likewise pick-and-choose from various hilts, sleeves, and emitters to build their own lightsaber.
In her novel, Delilah Dawson offers backstories to not only the people and places that populate Black Spire Outpost but various legends and myths as well. Outside Savi’s Workshop, for instance, Vi Moradi watches a young girl tie a strip of green fabric to the branch of a tree covered with similar ribbons.
“The Trilon wishing tree,” it is explained to Moradi. “This is how we send our hopes and wishes out into the universe. You tie a piece of fabric to the tree and make your vow or ask your wish, and when it disintegrates, that galaxy grants your boon.” At the real-world Galaxy’s Edge, the wishing tree likewise sits near Savi’s Workshop, with dozens of ribbons hanging from its branches.
Various legends also exist regarding the large black spire that gives the Outpost its name, and Vi Moradi is told one of them she sees the landmark for the first time. “When the ancients dwelled here, there was once a fearsome monster in the forest called Naklor, a hairy beast with long claws made of bone,” the story begins. “It came out at night, when the moons were darkest, to steal guffins and the men who went to milk them. Soon the villagers began to suffer as the milk dried up and the hunters disappeared. So the local matriarch took her staff out to fight it, and their battle was mighty. Finally, she struck the Naklor with such power that it burned to a cinder where it stood, and this is all that’s left of its shriveled husk. Some say its heart still lurks within, thirsty of blood.”
After walking through a short tunnel leading to Black Spire Outpost, visitors to the Disneyland attraction are immediately met with an array of sights and sounds that fit perfectly within the Star Wars Universe. An assortment of full-sized droids are located outside the Droid Depot, for instance, while various landspeeders are docked nearby. Coca-Cola products are for sale by vendors, although served in thermal hand grenades as opposed to bottles or cans. Merchant Row, meanwhile, is filled with an assortment of vendors hawking their wares – ancient Jedi relics can even be found inside Dok Ondor’s Den of Antiquities.
The Millennium Falcon is parked in a far corner of the Outpost, while a First Order TIE fighter rests in a different section of Galaxy’s Edge. Vi Moradi succeeded in establishing a Resistance base on the outskirts, and a small handful of X-Wings can be spotted in the shrubbery. Moradi herself can be seen walking the paths of Black Spire, along with Rey from the Star Wars sequel trilogy and Han Solo’s Wookie companion Chewbacca.
The First Order is aware that the Resistance is on Batuu and Stormtroopers patrol the Outpost as well, interrogating visitors about where their loyalties lie. Even Kylo Ren makes the occasional appearance, threatening anyone he comes across if they don’t provide him with useful information on the Resistance.
“Batuu was beautiful and strange, old and new, magical and yet natural,” Vi Moradi muses in Galaxy’s Edge: Black Spire. It is also the perfect place to lose oneself regardless of whether you’re a Resistance fighter or fugitive smuggler – or, more importantly, a fan of Star Wars looking to experience what it was like “a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.”
Anthony Letizia
