In her introduction to Star Wars: 100 Objects – Illuminating Items from A Galaxy Far, Far Away…. author Kristin Baver (host of Lucasfilm’s This Week in Star Wars YouTube news show and writer of Skywalker: A Family at War) talks about how visiting museums around the world was one of the chief inspirations for the new book from DK.
It would also be tough to deny– and I believe I’ve seen Baver mention in interviews– that this volume was also inspired by British Museum director Neil MacGregor’s 2010 multimedia project A History of the World in 100 Objects.
Either way, the basic premise of Star Wars: 100 Objects is a relatively simple one– it treats the physical props used in the making of the entire live-action Star Wars saga (not just the 11 theatrical films, but also several recent Disney+ TV series like The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Andor) as though they were real, historical artifacts, and gives all of them museum-like breakdowns of their particular significance in the larger story. The pieces are arranged in semi-chronological order, beginning with the Republic Era– what we would call the Prequel Trilogy– and continuing through the Imperial, New Republic, and First Order eras. But, like Star Wars itself, much of the fun and fascination here lies in the details of the spellbinding collection that Baver has curated in these pages. As a fan who has always been enamored by the inner workings of the Star Wars galaxy, I immediately fell in love with the author’s thorough, precise descriptions of just how each of these relics helped shape the fictional George Lucas-created storytelling universe that we know and cherish.
With that in mind, I want to note that Baver chose the perfect artifact with which to kick off this book– the multi-paneled bas-relief of the Great Sith Wars that once hung in Supreme Chancellor Palpatine’s office in Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. This item is of particular interest to me as a fan of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, because the antiquarian Ithorian character called Dok-Ondar has a very similar-looking one hanging in his shop in Black Spire Outpost on the planet Batuu. And while Baver doesn’t mention Dok by name, she does add a footnote that “similar bas-reliefs have been found at the excavation sites of Sith and Jedi temples,” perfectly filling in the blanks for me as to why the Ithorian would have one in his collection. That’s the kind of world-building I really appreciate when it comes to filling in the gaps of the vast tapestry we call Star Wars, and the trend continues with further objects like Jedi Master Plo Koon’s Antiox Mask, the Hand of the Lost King of Duro (as seen on display in Dryden Vos’s yacht in Solo: A Star Wars Story), a certain control knob from The Mandalorian’s ship the Razor Crest, and the Sith Wayfinder that Kylo Ren uses to track down the planet Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker.
There’s a wealth of information here, though I’m not sure that I would recommend this as an incoming fan’s first Star Wars reference book– that honor might belong to the upcoming Star Wars: Timelines (also from DK and also co-written by Baver), though I haven’t had the chance to go through that one yet. Instead, I would probably suggest Star Wars: 100 Objects as the perfect gift for fans who at the very least have a passing familiarity with the franchise, as to me this book is intended to enhance and expand one’s preexisting knowledge of these objects, as opposed to introducing them. As a side note, being a longtime fan, I’m very thankful that Lucasfilm seems to have officially returned to the BBY / ABY (before / after the Battle of Yavin) dating system, because other current-canon reference guides have invented different scales that only made the bigger picture more confusing. And on the whole, I can absolutely see 100 Objects becoming a must-own for anyone looking to broaden their proficiency in the ins and outs of the items– some very familiar, and some quite obscure– that have made Star Wars tick through four and a half decades’ worth of storytelling.
Star Wars: 100 Objects is available now wherever books are sold.