Barium

Barium was a poisonous green substance that could be used as a fuel for vehicles and explosives. It could also repel the gnaw-jaw insects of the planet Jakku. The rebel Sabine Wren mentioned barium as a potential explosive fuel in her journal, and the scavenger Rey likewise noted the substance in the survival guide she wrote, documenting it as a hazard for scavengers on Jakku and its use for warding off gnaw-jaws.

Description

Barium was a highly poisonous substance^[2] that could take the form of either green-colored lumps of solid matter or a powder.^[1] It shared its name with the barium reed plant^[4] as well as the product known as Barium Fizz.^[5] Barium could glow^[2] and be used as fuel for vehicles^[1] or explosives, with the use of the substance in the latter leading to explosions with a green hue.^[3] Similarly, a fuel laden with barium could lead to a green-colored engine exhaust trail in an EML-850 light freighter.^[6] Powdered barium also acted as a repellent against gnaw-jaws,^[1] carnivorous^[7] insects living on^[1] the Inner Rim^[8] desert planet Jakku.^[1]

History

Uses as fuel

In 5 BBY,^[9] Sabine Wren, a member of the anti–Galactic Empire rebel crew of the starship Ghost, noted in^[3] her^[10] journal barium as a possible fuel for creating green-colored explosions.^[3] At one point, the individual Flarbola left a special barium-laden starship fuel in a container as part of a stash in a hangar on Achra Station, a space station orbiting the Outer Rim Territories planet Akiva.^[6]

In 3 ABY,^[11] the thief Kay Vess discovered the stash and took the fuel.^[6]

The sands of Jakku

After^[1] the decisive Galactic Civil War battle on Jakku in 5 ABY,^[10] the planet's surface became strewn with the wreckage of starships and vehicles, leading to dangerous fuels such as barium leaking in its sands. Prior to^[1] her departure from Jakku in 34 ABY,^[10] the human scavenger Rey mentioned barium in the survival guide she was writing. She included in it a note with a visual depiction of a sample of the substance and wrote that barium—which she recommended handling with care—colored sand green, a fact that could inform scavengers to proceed with caution. In the book, Rey also suggested using powdered barium, laid out in a circle around oneself, in order to ward off gnaw-jaws in case of camping in Jakku's desert.^[1]

At one point, the Tallimarian scavenger Velorie Sarcon boasted of barium's effectiveness as a gnaw-jaw repellent, claims that were overheard by the Kessurian Leesa Chaffni, who worked at Dai's Cafe on Jakku. Chaffni did not know how Sarcon came to possess such knowledge but did not doubt the scavenger's expertise.^[2]

The Kessurian later ventured into the tunnels of an abandoned Jakku kesium gas mine^[2] at one point between 34 ABY and 35 ABY^[12] in the hopes of discovering the wreckage of the crashed Dreadnought-class heavy cruiser Explorator. When Chaffni encountered a swarm of gnaw-jaws in the tunnels, she, remembering Sarcon's words, frantically but fruitlessly searched her backpack for barium rods despite knowing it did not contain any and having never even seen one before. The Kessurian eventually retrieved a glowrod and fled the advancing insects deeper into the mine and into what was indeed the wreck of the Explorator. There, Chaffni and Finn, a member of the Resistance, were both ultimately rescued from the gnaw-jaws by Rey, whom Finn had accompanied back to Jakku. Rey, who had since become a Jedi apprentice, warded off the gnaw-jaws while using telekinesis and wielding her lightsaber, the glowing ignited blade of which Chaffni found to be brighter than any amount of barium.^[2]

Behind the scenes

Barium was first mentioned in the current Star Wars canon in Sabine My Rebel Sketchbook, which was written by Daniel Wallace^[3] and published on February 3, 2015.^[14] Rey's Survival Guide, authored by Jason Fry, illustrated by Andrew Barthelmes,^[1] and released on December 18 of the same year,^[15] provided the first visual depiction of the substance.^[1] The 2019 reference book TIE Fighter Owners' Workshop Manual by Ryder Windham^[13] misidentified^[3] the explosive compound baradium^[16] as barium.^[13]

The name "barium" was originally introduced to the Star Wars franchise in the Star Wars Legends continuity. It was featured in the form of a mention of barium liquid in^[17] the non-canonical^[18] 1993 book Monsters and Aliens from George Lucas by Bob Carrau^[17] and then in Gregory Walker's 2009 Hyperspace-exclusive StarWars.com article "Dining at Dex's."^[19] Additionally, the Barium Frizz beverage appeared in "Be Still My Heart: The Bartender's Tale," a short story written by David Bischoff and published in the 1995 anthology Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina.^[20] In the real world, barium is a chemical element and metal with a silvery-white luster that, in nature, is always found in the form of chemical compounds. All soluble barium compounds are toxic to mammals. Barium salts are used to obtain green color in flares and fireworks.^[21]

Appearances

• Star Wars Outlaws (Mentioned only)
• The Jaws of Jakku (Mentioned only)

Sources

• Sabine My Rebel Sketchbook (First mentioned)
• Rey's Survival Guide (First pictured)
• TIE Fighter Owners' Workshop Manual (Misidentification of baradium)

Notes and references

External links

• Barium on Wikipedia