- "The biggest peril of Carbon Ridge is the dead-enders. They sound like a tale from the washing tables, but I've seen them myself, prowling the canyons."
- ―Rey writes about the dead-enders in her survival guide
The dead-enders were a group of elderly men who lived in Carbon Ridge mountain on the desert planet Jakku. They wore scraps of Imperial armor and chased anyone who entered their territory away with stones while listing strings of numbers, presenting the biggest peril to anyone visiting the mountain.
During the childhood of the scavenger Rey, the junk dealer Unkar Plutt sent six of his thugs to search for buried treasure in Carbon Ridge. Dead-enders ambushed them and killed two of the thugs, although several dead-enders also died in the fighting. By 34 ABY, Rey had written about the dead-enders in her survival guide, doubting a theory that they were guarding an Imperial research base and instead suggesting that they were the surviving stormtroopers of a crashed Imperial warship.
Description
- "They're old men with white beards and crazy eyes. If you run into a dead-ender he'll chase you out of his territory, throwing rocks and babbling nonsense strings of numbers. Fortunately, if they ever had guns they ran out of power packs a long time ago."
- ―Rey writes about the dead-enders in her survival guide
The dead-enders were a group of elderly men that dwelt in the Carbon Ridge mountain on the desert planet Jakku[1] in the Inner Rim.[2] They had white beards and wore scraps of Imperial armor and robes, prowling the mountain's canyons and chasing any they encountered away while throwing rocks and speaking strings of numbers. The scavenger Rey considered the numbers to be nonsense and described the mens' eyes as crazy, although the dead-enders also reminded[1] her[3] of military types, waiting to come to attention and march off despite their current state.[1]
History
Guardians of the Ridge
- "Then off went six of Unkar's thugs with a hired pilot to discover the secret of Carbon Ridge and bring back its buried treasures. Four of the thugs came back with a stack of stormtrooper armor so brittle that Unkar threw it away. The thugs had shot a handful of dead-enders and lost two of their own in the ambushes, but found nothing except empty caves and rockslides."
- ―Rey writes about the dead-enders in her survival guide
The dead-enders lived in Carbon Ridge on Jakku.
Carbon Ridge was the site of a secret Imperial research base during the reign of the Galactic Empire[4] which was destroyed during the battle between the Empire and the New Republic on Jakku[5] in 5 ABY.[3] By the time that Rey arrived on Jakku[1] in 16 ABY,[3] the base was remembered only as a story among the residents of Niima Outpost on Jakku, who believed the dead-enders were the facility's guards. While Rey was still a child, the junk dealer Unkar Plutt, who controlled the outpost, sent six thugs and a hired pilot in a flyer to Carbon Ridge to search for buried treasure there.[1]
At the ridge, the thugs encountered the dead-enders and shot several of them, although the old men killed two of the thugs in return during ambushes. The thugs then searched the ridge but found only empty caves and rockslides, returning to Plutt with only a stack of stormtrooper armor that was so brittle that the junk dealer threw it away. The ripper-raptors that inhabited Carbon Ridge fed well after the conflict and the residents of Niima chose to leave the place well alone from then on, with the topic becoming a sore point for Plutt.[1]
Rey's writings
- "Here's what I think happened. In the Battle of Jakku, one of the Empire's warships came down on Carbon Ridge instead of plowing into the Graveyard. The officers that survived sent out stormtroopers to secure the crash site while they waited for a rescue. Instead, they got a rockslide that buried the ship. But the troopers are still there, protecting nothing."
- ―Rey theorizes about the dead-enders in her survival guide
The scavenger Rey wrote about the dead-enders in her survival guide.
By 34 ABY,[6] Rey had seen dead-enders on Carbon Ridge and wrote about them in her survival guide. She described them as the biggest peril to anyone visiting Carbon Ridge and admitted that they sounded like a made-up story from the washing tables of Niima. The scavenger included a sketch of three of the old men carrying rifles, although in text she expressed uncertainty about if they had ever had guns and speculated that if they had then the group had run out power packs long before she encountered them.[1]
In the guide, Rey wrote that she doubted that there was an Imperial base on Jakku due to the world's insignificance and so did not think that was the origin of the dead-enders. She instead believed that an Imperial warship had crashed into Carbon Ridge during the Battle of Jakku, as many other starships had done in the nearby Starship Graveyard. She theorized that the Imperial officers on board had then sent out stormtroopers to secure the crash site while they awaited rescue, but that the ship was buried by a rockslide that left the troopers behind protecting nothing.[1]
Behind the scenes
The dead-enders were mentioned in Rey's Survival Guide, a 2015 replica journal written by Jason Fry and illustrated by Andrew Barthelmes.[1]
Sources
- Rey's Survival Guide (First mentioned)
Notes and references
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 Rey's Survival Guide
- ↑ Star Wars Encyclopedia: The Comprehensive Guide to the Star Wars Galaxy
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Star Wars: Timelines
- ↑ Star Wars Battlefront II
- ↑ Star Wars: The Force Awakens: The Visual Dictionary
- ↑ Rey's Survival Guide includes an addendum at the end describing some of the events of Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, written several days after they take place. The addendum is the final entry in the guide and is included chronologically after the entry mentioning the dead-enders. Star Wars: Timelines dates the events of the film to 34 ABY.