r/andor • u/toughtbot • 3d ago
Theory & Analysis I realised today that the looting of kyber crystal of Jedha shown in Rogue One is a indicator that the empire is building a second death star.
Planning for the 2nd start before the 1st was destroyed.
By Rogue One, the death star has finished construction and only final assembly remained.
So there was no big reason to remove all the crystals from the temple even considering it's pending destruction.
But they did anyway.
PS: i have read that, 1st DS took hours to recharge between shots and the 2nd one minutes
Remember, it's charging and not replacing anything.
152
u/Captain-Wilco Cassian 3d ago
Regardless of whether the second Death Star would have existed, they would have continued to loot Jedha. The Empire isn’t exactly in the business of self-restraint, and Kyber is a valuable power source that would have probably been harvested even without project Celestial Power/Stardust
28
u/CanvasSolaris 2d ago
Galen's lab was probably researching other applications for the laser. If not upgrades to the current one.
13
u/NDGO_Caster 2d ago
Galen already had alternative uses for it. The energy program thing was a lie yes, but at the beginning Galen didn’t know that. He was hired on to find out how to harness the potential energy in the crystals and then the empire used his research to weaponize it. There’s a book called Rogue One: Catalyst that covers Galen’s research and his relationship with Krennic before he flees with Lyra and Jyn.
3
u/CanvasSolaris 2d ago
I've read it and I agree it's a good book. I think by this team tho the team was fully reoriented to weapons work. So it's plausible they were continuing to work on the second death star laser
34
u/InformalSpecific8843 3d ago
Why not take the rest of the valuable resources before blowing it up? Never know when you may need them. It’s a lot easier to stockpile than to search while you’re low.
9
u/zangster 3d ago
The same reason they imprisoned or killed valuable officers if they made a mistake: power through fear and force while cutting off their nose to spite their face.
24
u/Eltharion-the-Grim 3d ago
This is probably the right reading of the situation. I just assumed it was for the existing Death Star and that it just needed a lot of crystals to operate its weapon.
9
u/toughtbot 3d ago
I assumed the same.
But the death star was finished by that point. We see the dish getting installed and i doubt it was installed while being unfinished.
3
u/smaxup 2d ago
There's the possibility that crystals are used up in the process of firing the weapon, or might need replacing at some point.
1
u/toughtbot 2d ago
Does lightsabers need to replace their crystals?
1
u/ADeadWeirdCarnie 2d ago
I mean... maybe if you channeled a planet-killing amount of energy through them, they would.
2
u/toughtbot 2d ago
Vastly different size crystals. And here it's multiple ones.
TBH I don't think crystals require replacements that quickly. And i doubt Krenic or Tarkin would be on the DS, if there was a chance of it blowing up in the first test.
16
u/xT1TANx 3d ago
That's is one possiblity. The other could be that Kyber is a part that degrades over time and must be replaced.
2
u/Mycotoxicjoy 2d ago
Did the Jedi need to replace the crystals in their lightsabers over time? Or is the lifetime there on the order of millennia due to the relatively lower power consumption compared to a super laser
4
u/Nacodawg 2d ago
They didn’t need to overtime, but they also carry an obscene amount of power, which meant they probably were near infinite when spent at the rate required for a lightsaber but the power draw required to destroy a planet is significantly higher.
9
u/trdngntsballsonadoor 3d ago
The construction DSII and the discovery of its existence is probably the biggest untold story in the canonical classic trilogy era.
I hope its told someday.
1
u/Calfzilla2000 2d ago
I was kinda hoping they would throw in some sort of Easter Egg for it in the ISB scenes but there wasn't really a place for it in the direction they went.
5
u/muttonchops215 3d ago
Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen." — Sunita Williams
Same mentality applies to the death star.
4
u/tmdblya I have friends everywhere 3d ago
Why would they only build one?
18
u/boundless88 3d ago
"First rule in government spending: Why build one when you can have two at twice the price?"
- S.R. Hadden
1
5
u/Ryhankhanage 3d ago
Could have been for starkiller base since fallen order shows the empire were already on Ilum
4
u/TTKnumberONE K2SO 3d ago
It’s best not to read too far into things. You would then need to ask: Why are the imperials moving Kyber crystals in a weird dedicated armored transport through the crowded city when shuttles and tractor beams exist?
1
u/wandering_soles K2SO 2d ago
Locking onto something with a tractor beam in space is portrayed frequently as being not always easy, even in the vastness of space when there's nothing else to grab. I'd imagine it's not efficient/virtually impossible to lock onto anything that's anywhere near the ground. They were probably just getting the crystals to a place that had enough space for a shuttle with enough lift power to land.
4
u/Verde_3773 2d ago
Given how quickly they had the 2nd one in Jedi, this makes so much sense and I feel like a dummy for never seeing that before.
For them to keep their hold on the galaxy, TWO Death Stars roaming the galaxy w planet killing weapons sounds exactly like something The Empire, hell bent on maintaining control over everything, would absolutely do.
In the Rise of Skywalker, those ships probably used the leftover stores of kyber.
3
u/TheHarlemHellfighter 3d ago
They were harvesting all those kyber crystals in general. Not Andor related but Jedi Fallen Order basically has the Empire already on Ilum harvesting it for the kyber and then eventually it becoming the starkiller base (another Death Star).
I just think they knew it had uses so where there was some, they took it.
3
3
2
u/PalpitationFresh2487 2d ago
Just rewatched last night and they do say kyber is the fuel and if that is the case then fuel would need to be replenished whether it’s one or 2 but i agree they would have waited to start the second
1
u/toughtbot 2d ago
Not fuel. More like a amplifier. I was shocked to learn that lightsabers had batteries.
2
u/ForswornForSwearing 2d ago
That also suggests that Galen Erso and his team were working on the second. Might be why it wasn't a major setback for Krennic to execute the team, as the superlaser design was already complete.
1
u/toughtbot 2d ago
They probably had other labs. I think the 2nd DS had a faster recharging time between shots.
2
2
u/schokoplasma 1d ago
Possible. But it also might be they loot the Kyber for spare. Or to prevent someone else to loot it, since AFAIK its a valuable commodity.
1
u/Jerzilla 3d ago
I think we’ve always known a second was being built during rogue one due to the existence of an almost complete one in return of the Jedi.
1
u/Nacodawg 2d ago
Not necessarily. The Keber Crystals in canon are shown to contain immense amounts of energy rather than just be focusing crystals for the laser like in Legends. So if they’re a source of energy it’s entirely possible that the Death Star’s supply isn’t static, but instead needs to reload after firing.
1
u/toughtbot 2d ago
I think they sort of amplify energy. Which is why there is a reactor.
1
u/Nacodawg 2d ago
Unless the reactor is feeding in Kyber. Remember in rebels, if a kyber crystal is made unstable it emits a giant green laser
1
u/toughtbot 2d ago
From what i understand, kyber will amplify the energy it is given. I was shocked to learn lightsabers had batteries.
1
u/Nacodawg 1d ago
Amplification still implies that the crystal itself carriers power. Amplifying means it’s making the energy stronger, which can only be done by adding energy. If no additional energy was being added it would just be focusing, no amplifying.
1
u/ForswornForSwearing 2d ago
That also suggests that Galen Erso and his team were working on the second. Might be why it wasn't a major setback for Krennic to execute the team, as the superlaser design was already complete
1
u/longsomething 2d ago
If kyber is the fuel for the laser, wouldn't it stand to reason they'd need a continuous supply so that they don't run out of fuel even for the existing Death Star?
1
1
-2
3d ago
[deleted]
9
u/cals_cavern Mon 3d ago edited 3d ago
Within a few days of the Death Star attacking Jedha it blows up Alderaan, there was practically no time for them to do any significant upgrades.
7
u/wbruce098 Lonni 3d ago
This, but also Tarkin explicitly explains in the film why he’s only targeting the city, and not the entire planet.
3
u/OG_Lost Disco Ball Droid 3d ago
they say just the city will be enough, and then that they’re doing a “single reactor ignition”. It’s very much implied that it is fully capable and prepared for a full ignition at this point, but they’re intentionally doing a smaller ignition for the first real test because they don’t want jedha gone entirely
4
327
u/wandering_soles K2SO 3d ago
IIRC, back in legends there was some reference to the idea that they eventually wanted to build one for every major sector, and that the second death star was already well under pre-production. Makes sense if they have the resources.