Bespin
| Bespin | |
 |
|
| Details | |
| Region | Outer Rim/Javin Sector |
|---|---|
| System | Bespin System |
| Places of interest | Cloud City, Tibannapolis |
| Affiliation | Galactic Empire |
| Game(s) | Jedi Outcast |
Bespin is a huge gas planet, originally introduced in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back film. It is a planet visited by the main characters, including Han Solo and princess Leia and their team, when they were escaping from the Empire. Lord Vader would use this place to capture them as well as a young Jedi Luke Skywalker, who was revealed to be his son.
Overview
Bespin is a large planet, having only several cities, the prominent one being the Cloud City - a city-platform, hovering in the skies of the planet, often hidden by the clouds. The city was an important hub for traders, miners and tourists and included many different districts on various levels. Some were purely industrial and were located in the lower levels, specializing in collecting the precious Tibanna gas. The upper levels were used for residential quarters and leisure areas, which included casinos and well designed streets and squares.
The city and the planet is ruled by Lando Calryssian, a friend to Han Solo and a former smuggler himself. Upon leaving the old ways, he would become the local administrator of the facility, glad to stay far from the centre of the Galaxy and the Empire itself. However things changed, when his old friend Han showed up in the Cloud City with a damaged Millennium Falcon. While Lando promised to repair the ship, he actually betrayed their friends in order to save the city from the Empire - who arrived long before Han and Leia, and the trap was set by Darth Vader himself.
Lando assumed he managed to have a fair bargain with the Empire, which would allow him to spare the city and aid his friends later on, but Vader altered their deal several times - which was more than enough for Lando to reconsider his own allegiance. However it was too late, as Han Solo was frozen in carbonate and taken to Jabba the Hutt by Boba Fett, while the Empire decided to occupy the city, discarding the Bespin neutrality. When this happened, the Administrator used his authority to warn the locals of the upcoming invasion.
The city would remain under Imperial control for some time until the collapse of the Empire at the battle of Endor. By that time Lando would have achieved the rank of general and led the Rebel fleet in an attack on the second Death Star. That was a very tense battle, resulted in countless Rebellion losses, however that fateful day justice and freedom returned to the Galaxy, when the battle station was destroyed near Endor.
Lando would return to his position as the Administrator of Bespin, keeping close ties with the New Republic.
In Jedi Outcast
While investigating Reelo Baruk, Kyle Katarn finds Lando Calryssian in one of the cells on Nar Shaddaa. Captured by Baruk's thugs he was also investigating the crime lord and his recent activities on Bespin. After the release, Katarn and Lando would fight these mercenaries together in order to get to Lady Luck, Calryssian's ship, which they use to escape from the vertical city. Baruk tries to stop them with a turret, but is killed before the ship is damaged.
Lando brings Kyle to Bespin and the Jedi uses the lower city mechanism to get to the upper levels - where both the mercenaries, the Imperials and the Reborn occupied a significant part of the city centre. In the upcoming battles Kyle would often be assisted by Bespin cops, until all the Remnant forces are defeated. In the end Katarn encounters Tavion Axmis, apprentice to Dark Jedi Desann. She taunts the Jedi by saying, that Kyle contributed to the success of the Remnant himself by breaking his promises and going to the Valley of the Jedi. A lightsaber duel then takes place with Kyle almost killing Tavion. She pledges for mercy and confesses, that Kyle's friend - Jan Ors, believed to have been killed, is actually alive and is kept in the Leniko belt.
In other stories
Cloud City returns in several EU stories, including The Force Unleashed, where Darth Vader's apprentice completes his own mission - a Cloud City under construction is seen there in the distance, while Starkiller fights stormtroopers and Dark acolytes. Bespin is also featured in Battlefront video game, showing a large yard with pearl-like buildings around.
A secret level of Cloud City can be found in Mysteries of the Sith, an add-on for Dark Forces II: Jedi Knight video game. There the Player takes the role of Luke Skywalker fighting Darth Vader.
Maps
Bespin materials in Jo provided many city textures, often used by fans to create maps of Cloud City of other city-like locations. Several mods also take place on Bespin, such as Force Master. Some JKA fans speculated, that Cloud City looks differently in Empire Strikes Back, where the design is closer to white colors and blue, rather than yellowish and brown tones of JO.
Jedi Academy includes a MP dueling map only.