In The Force Awakens, we’re introduced to Starkiller Base — a terrifying new superweapon that looks like the Death Star on steroids. But just like the original Death Star, it doesn’t survive past the final act. The Resistance takes it down, the base explodes, and the First Order is left starting over.
So here’s the question: If the First Order had the resources to build something that massive, why build it inside a planet like Ilum?
The Force Awakens Novel Explains Why Ilum Became Starkiller Base
In The Force Awakens novelization, we learn that Ilum wasn’t just a random choice—it was specifically selected by the First Order because of its unusual natural and ancient properties. Long before the First Order transformed it into Starkiller Base, Ilum already harbored something extraordinary beneath its surface: a massive, compact concentration of dark energy known as quintessence. This volatile energy had been gathered in stages using an array of collectors spread across the planet, eventually accumulating at Ilum’s core.
“Having been gathered in stages by an immense array of coupled collectors located on the other side of the planet, a tremendously compact volume of a type of dark energy known as quintessence had been accumulated at the center of the planet.”
This powerful force was held in place by the planet’s own molten metal core and magnetic field, further stabilized by containment systems. Over time, it grew into a form of energy unlike anything else in the galaxy. When First Order engineers arrived, they discovered that Ilum already contained the groundwork for what could become a devastating weapon. The planet even had an immense hollow cylinder—a kind of natural conduit—reaching deep into its interior, allowing energy to escape in a controlled, linear direction. This structure ensured that unleashing the weapon wouldn’t destabilize the planet’s surface.
“Penetrating to within a predetermined distance of the containment field, an immense hollow cylinder permitted a way out while ensuring that when the weapon was unleashed, gigantic groundquakes would not roil the world’s fragile surface.”
Once activated, this focused energy—now transformed into what the novel calls phantom energy—would launch out at incredible speed. Thanks to the planet’s rotation and alignment, the energy blast could travel in a perfectly linear path through hyperspace, essentially creating a “Big Rip” that could strike across vast galactic distances.
“Assuming that the rotation and inclination of the planet had been taken into account, the released blast of concentrated phantom energy would travel along a perfectly linear path, punching a small Big Rip through hyperspace itself until it left the galaxy—or encountered something in its path that was of sufficient mass to intercept it.”
So, why Ilum? Because its deep-buried energy fault and mysterious ancient machinery made the planet uniquely suited to become a superweapon. It had an enormous internal energy source, a natural structure for guiding that energy, and a physical orientation ideal for long-range hyperspace firing. The First Order didn’t need to build a superweapon from scratch—they found a planet that was halfway there already, and pushed it over the edge. It wasn’t just a terrifying display of engineering—it was a cold, calculated exploitation of ancient natural power buried in one of the galaxy’s most mysterious worlds.
As described in Star Wars: Complete Locations (2016), the weapon system created atop Ilum “harnesses the limitless potential of the universe’s dark energy to send a lance of destructive power halfway across the galaxy at speeds far faster than light.” It’s this terrifying level of efficiency that gave the First Order the ability to strike star systems from unimaginable distances—without even leaving orbit.
Before the First Order, the Empire Had Already Started Tapping Into Ilum
After the fall of the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine gained access to the Jedi’s kyber crystal supply by uncovering the hyperspace routes to Ilum—a planet long held sacred by the Jedi Order.
What made Ilum so valuable was its vast reserves of kyber crystals. These Force-attuned crystals were traditionally used to power lightsabers, but their true potential lay in their ability to focus and amplify immense amounts of energy. This made them perfect not only for Jedi weapons, but also for the Empire’s darker ambitions.
According to Star Wars: Complete Locations, during the height of the Galactic Empire, Palpatine ordered deep-space exploration into the Unknown Regions using ancient Jedi navigation charts. It was through this effort that the Empire discovered Ilum—described as a small, frozen world with a natural abundance of energy-focusing kyber crystals. The Empire quickly began mining these crystals to power the Death Star’s superlasers.
“The Empire mined these crystals to create focusing arrays for the Death Stars’ superlasers.”
Without those crystals, the Death Star’s weapon would not have worked at all. Ilum was crucial.
Years later, when the First Order rose from the ashes of the Empire and retreated into the Unknown Regions, it took Ilum with it—quite literally. Rather than mining it like the Empire had, they went a step further. They built their entire superweapon into the planet itself. Starkiller Base didn’t just contain kyber—it was Ilum. The First Order expanded the trenches left behind by Imperial mining efforts, reaching deeper into the core and engineering an even more terrifying system.
Through a massive engineering project, they transformed Ilum into Starkiller Base, a weapon of unprecedented power and scale. It wasn’t just capable of destroying planets—it could annihilate entire star systems, firing its energy across hyperspace.
“A massive engineering project transformed it into Starkiller Base, a weapons platform of terrifying destructive power and range.”
By combining the kyber-rich terrain with the ability to drain energy from stars, the First Order achieved something even the Death Star’s architects hadn’t imagined. Starkiller Base was the culmination of both ancient Jedi knowledge and Imperial ambition—weaponized to terrifying extremes.
