Fest

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"We have always said Fest. Every doc I've ever submitted has always said you were born on Fest."
―Maarva Andor, to Cassian Andor[4]

Fest was a cold, mountainous planet located in the Outer Rim Territories' Atrivis sector. It was the forged homeworld of the adopted boy Kassa, later renamed Cassian Jeron Andor. The Galactic Empire occupied Fest's industrial zones and forced many of the local humans to work there. The Empire ultimately savaged the world, and refugees were taken in by the Rebel Alliance base on the moon Yavin 4.

Description

Fest was a backwater planet[5] located in an eponymous star system within an intersecting portion of the Outer Rim Territories[1] and the New Territories.[2] Situated in the Atrivis sector at the coordinates L-5 on the Standard Galactic Grid,[1] it was linked by a hyperspace route to[6] the planet[3] Dantooine.[6] It was a cold world with many mountains.[3]

History

"Cassian Andor. This says he's from Fest."
"This was a tip call, right? Probably someone messing with us."
"I don't see Kenari here."
―Two Corporate Authority officers[4]
Fest was the forged homeworld of Cassian Andor (pictured).

Fest was the forged homeworld of Cassian Andor (pictured).

In the latter years of the Galactic Republic,[7] prior to 22 BBY,[8] the boy Kassa was taken off his homeworld of Kenari by the scavengers Maarva Andor and Clem Andor, who believed the Republic would slaughter his tribe.[9] Raising the boy under the name[4] "Cassian Jeron Andor,"[10] Maarva made sure to list his homeworld as Fest in every document she submitted.[4] At the end of the Clone Wars, which lasted from 22 BBY to 19 BBY, the Republic became the Galactic Empire.[5] The successor government occupied Fest's industrial zones, forcing many of the world's human denizens to labor there.[3]

In 5 BBY, Cassian Andor murdered two sentry guards from the[11] Pre-Mor Authority Security Forces on the planet Morlana One.[12] Beforehand, he had mistakenly revealed to a local hostess that he was from Kenari, and the information then found its way to Pre-Mor Enforcement.[11] When the authority was tipped off about Andor being the Kenari male suspect, a group of officers checked Andor's record and became skeptical upon learning Fest was indicated as his homeworld. The hostess was nevertheless brought in and identified Andor as the killer.[4]

Despite the Imperial presence,[3] Fest became an operations headquarters for an organized rebellion that was secretly led by Senator Mon Mothma[6] by 2 BBY.[13] As such, the world was noted on a map of the galaxy sent to Mothma that listed rebel safe worlds, starfighter hubs at level five or higher, operations headquarters, shadow planets, and deep space caches. Archivist Hendri Underholt included the map in the non-electronic archive known as The Rebel Files. The rebellion was formalized[6] in 2 BBY[5] as the Rebel Alliance,[6] and Fest ultimately became savaged under the Empire, bleeding refugees that were welcomed to the Alliance base on the moon Yavin 4.[14]

Behind the scenes

"There was some apocryphal information he was from Fest and whatever, and oh well let me turn that upside down. Where is he from?"
―Tony Gilroy, on the situation of Cassian Andor's homeworld[15]
Fest, as it appears in Star Wars Legends

Fest, as it appears in Star Wars Legends

Fest was introduced into the current Star Wars canon when it was mentioned simultaneously in Jason Fry's young-readers book Star Wars: Rogue One: Secret Mission[16] and Pablo Hidalgo's reference book Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide,[10] both released on December 16, 2016.[17] Originating in the Star Wars Legends continuity, the planet Fest was introduced in West End Games' The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook, written by Paul Murphy and published in 1990 as part of Star Wars: The Roleplaying Game. Artist Allen Nunis illustrated the world in that sourcebook.[18] Fest first appeared in Legends in the 1995 video game Star Wars: Dark Forces, developed by LucasArts.[19]

Star Wars: Rogue One: Secret Mission and Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide establish that Cassian Andor's homeworld was Fest.[10][16] This information was repeated in later sources;[3][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] however, "That Would Be Me"—the second episode of the first season of Tony Gilroy's live-action Disney+ series Star Wars: Andor that was released on September 21, 2022[27]—established this was an in-universe lie that Maarva Andor had fabricated, and that Cassian's actual homeworld was Kenari.[4] The 2023 reference book Star Wars: Timelines mistakenly repeats as supposed fact the outdated information that Andor was from Fest.[5]

While speaking at a panel on the first day of Celebration Europe on April 7, 2023, Gilroy revealed that, when creating a homeworld for Andor, he saw the pre-existing information on Fest and chose to "turn [it] upside down."[15] In another interview, Gilroy reminisced that he had not liked that Andor had Fest as a homeworld as it did not fit with the story he wanted to tell. As a result, when thinking of how to explain away canonical entries mentioning Andor's homeworld, he noted that it was decided to make it so Andor was trying to hide his origins in-universe. Gilroy indicated that weaving the lie about Fest into the scene in which Andor and Maarva discuss the issue was done to further develop the concept that he was disappointing his mother, as he had ended up revealing his secret, real homeworld. He was happy with the result, believing that the mention of Fest was able to further develop the characters by pushing the scene along to reveal more of Andor's personality.[28]

Appearances

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Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 StarWars.com Star Systems of the Galaxy on StarWars.com (current version) (backup link) (previous version) — Based on corresponding data for the Fest system
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Star Wars: The Rebel Files places Fest in the area of space Star Wars: The Galactic Explorer's Guide identifies as the New Territories.
  3. ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 Star Wars: Absolutely Everything You Need to Know, Updated and Expanded
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 Andor logo new Star Wars: Andor — "That Would Be Me"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Star Wars: Timelines
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Star Wars: The Rebel Files
  7. ↑ StarWars.com "Reckoning" Trivia Gallery | Andor on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 1)
  8. ↑ StarWars.com "Reckoning" Trivia Gallery | Andor on StarWars.com (backup link) (Slide 1) states that the scenes on Kenari in "Reckoning" took place prior to the Clone Wars, which started in 22 BBY, according to Star Wars: Timelines.
  9. ↑ Andor logo new Star Wars: Andor — "Reckoning"
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Star Wars: Rogue One: The Ultimate Visual Guide
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Andor logo new Star Wars: Andor — "Kassa"
  12. ↑ Star Wars: Dawn of Rebellion: The Visual Guide
  13. ↑ In Star Wars: The Rebel Files, the report regarding the rebel locations that included Fest is set between the introduction of the TIE/d "Defender" Multi-Role Starfighter and the Declaration of the Rebel Alliance, which are both dated to 2 BBY by Star Wars: Timelines.
  14. ↑ "By Whatever Sun" — From a Certain Point of View
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 SWYT-Logo Star Wars Celebration LIVE! 2023 - DAY 1 on the official Star Wars YouTube channel (backup link)
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Star Wars: Rogue One: Secret Mission
  17. ↑ StarWars.com Rebel Reading: A Guide to Rogue One Books on StarWars.com (backup link)
  18. ↑ The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook
  19. ↑ Star Wars: Dark Forces
  20. ↑ Star Wars: Rogue One: Secret Mission
  21. ↑ Star Wars: Geektionary: The Galaxy from A - Z
  22. ↑ Star Wars Helmet Collection: Imperial Ground Crew Weapons & Uniforms: Rogue One Commandos
  23. ↑ Star Wars Character Encyclopedia, New Edition
  24. ↑ Ultimate Star Wars, New Edition
  25. ↑ "The Heroes of Rogue One" — Star Wars Encyclopedia
  26. ↑ Star Wars: Character Encyclopedia, Updated and Expanded Edition
  27. ↑ SWInsider "Star Wars: Andor Season One Companion" — Star Wars Insider 217
  28. ↑ YouTube Andor Q&A - Tony Gilroy - (S1 eps 1-4 ) on the Backstory Magazine YouTube channel (September 29, 2022) (backup link)