Star Wars is notorious for the depth of its canon. Every character who appeared on-screen in the original trilogy has a fully fleshed-out backstory, from the droids on sale in A New Hope, to every inhabitant of Jabba’s Palace, right down to the guy lugging an ice cream maker through the streets of Cloud City in The Empire Strikes Back. But it doesn’t stop there, as the upcoming book, Star Wars: 100 Objects, will give a backstory and explanation to weapons, armor, and other key items from across the saga.
Promising that “each has its own compelling story to tell”, the book will explain how iconic items like Darth Vader’s mask came to be, as well as the cultural significance of a Tusken gaffi stick or the tale of a specific Clone Trooper helmet. The book was teased at New York Comic-Con over the weekend, where a page explaining all we need to know about Yoda’s ‘Blissl’ was revealed.
We’re seasoned Star Wars fans and had never paid much attention to this thing, which can be seen around Yoda’s neck in The Empire Strikes Back. But thanks to the extract we now know more about it than we ever wanted to:
The explanation is that Yoda created it because he understood the “psychological benefits” of having moments of joy, even as he hid out on a filthy swamp moon with nothing but monsters for company. They imagine that Yoda would have used his Blissl to “add his own melody to the chorus of the natural world around him”. Yeah sure, that sounds like something he’d do.
If this kind of minutia does it for you, then Star Wars: 100 Objects should be a must-buy. It’s set to hit shelves on April 4, 2023, so let’s hope we get some more peeks inside it before then.