Lotho Minor

"Welcome to Lotho Minor, kids. If there's any one place where the galaxy's trash finally comes to rest, it's Lotho."
"Sounds like you kind of love it, Han."
"Find me a smuggler who doesn't."

―Han Solo and Leia Organa^[6]

Lotho Minor, also known as the Junk World or simply Lotho, was a planet located in the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories that was the homeworld of the Junker species. Used as a dumping ground, its surface was covered with junk and trash amassed over a number of generations, which brought salvage operations to the planet to find junk that could still be used. Following his defeat during the Battle of Naboo, the Sith Lord Darth Maul went into exile in the bowels of Lotho Minor, where he lost his mind until he was found by his brother, Savage Opress, over a decade later.

Description[]

LothoMinorJunk-TCW — The junk fields of Lotho Minor

"The cargo you just dropped off. What planet did it come from?"
"The junk fields, on planet Lotho Minor."

―Savage Opress and a cargo hauler —

Listen (file info)^[2]

Lotho Minor, also known simply as Lotho,^[6] was located in the Lotho Minor system, within the Wazta sector of the galaxy's Outer Rim Territories.^[1] A terrestrial planet,^[2] its surface was covered with refuse, piled over countless generations so that enormous heaps of trash stood as tall as mountains. The gutted and rotting hulls of ancient starships poked through the more recent garbage, giving the landscape the eerie feel of an industrial graveyard. Huge pools of toxic sludge and the periodic bursts of acid rain made its ruined ecosystem one of the most dangerous in the galaxy.^[3] The planet's atmosphere was breathable,^[2] though hot and caustic, while foul-smelling fog limited visibility.^[3]

History[]

"This is where you live? How long have you been here?"
"Years and years and years."

―Savage Opress and Darth Maul —

Listen (file info)^[2]

For time immemorial, Lotho Minor was an industrial dumping ground for neighboring worlds. Cargo ships routinely dropped holds of refuse onto the planet, caring little as to what would become of it. Long ago, immense refuse incinerator droids were programmed to incinerate Lotho Minor's garbage.^[7] By the year 20 BBY,^[8] they continued to labor amid the mountains of refuse; those unfortunate to live on Lotho Minor did not know the droids' origins and referred to them simply as "fire-breathers."^[7] Salvage operations also dug through the planet-wide junkyard, looking to reclaim and recondition reusable or obsolete machinery, and Lotho Minor came to also be known as the Junk World.^[3]

In 32 BBY,^[9] the shattered body of Darth Maul, a Dathomirian Zabrak Sith Lord, was dumped amid Lotho Minor's refuse after his defeat at the Battle of Naboo.^[10] His driving desire to cling to life pushed him to rebuild himself,^[3] living in hiding^[3] in the caves beneath Lotho Minor's surface and subsisting off garbage and vermin^[4] for over a decade.^[3] An Anacondan known as Morley pledged loyalty to Maul to survive, promising to lure unwitting prey into Maul's hungry clutches.^[4]

Lotho Minor was neutral during the Clone Wars.^[3] In 20 BBY,^[8] Mother Talzin of the Nightsisters tasked Savage Opress with finding Maul, his long lost brother. A mystical talisman pointed him in the direction of Lotho Minor;^[3] while scouring the planet's endless wastes for his brother,^[5] Opress encountered Morley, who guided him past such threats as the enormous fire-breathers^[4] and a tribe^[5] of territorial Junkers. He lured Opress into a cave, where Maul was said to live.^[4] There, Opress found his brother,^[2] though his mind was shattered.^[3] He brought Maul back to Dathomir, where Talzin restored his body and mind.^[11]

By 0 ABY, Lotho Minor had come to attract all sorts of nefarious types, including smugglers. Seren Song, a spy for the Alliance to Restore the Republic took refuge from the infamous droid bounty hunter IG-88 in the planet's junk fields. When she tried escaping aboard her BTL Y-wing starfighter, the droid tagged it with a homing beacon and pursued in its starfighter, the IG-2000. When the Millennium Falcon arrived in the Lotho Minor system to investigate Song's distress call, it was engaged by IG-88 before escaping into hyperspace.^[6]

Inhabitants[]

"Trust me, not everything on this planet is junk.…There are things like me, things that live and breathe."

―Morley —

Listen (file info)^[2]

Lotho Minor was apparently the homeworld of the Junkers species.^[3] Living in tribes, the mysterious Junkers appeared to be a strange hybrid of organic life and mechanical debris, and no one was quite sure of their origin. Lotho Minor's role as a galactic dumping ground did not encouraged any deep exploration of Junker culture or biology, nor did their violent territoriality. The Junkers lived off the scrap found on their homeworld's surface, augmenting their strange and twisted bodies with cybernetic enhancements. They lived on Lotho Minor for so long that it was impossible to tell where their bodies ended and where the refuse began.^[5]

Behind the scenes[]

Lotho Minor Spirit Of A — Lotho Minor environment design illustration by Kilian Plunkett

Lotho Minor was originally created for "Brothers," the twenty-first episode of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars' fourth season,^[2] which originally aired March 9, 2012.^[12] However, it first appeared in The Wrath of Darth Maul, a young adult novel written by Ryder Windham^[13] and released on January 1, 2012.^[14] Several "spirit of" designs for Lotho Minor were illustrated by Kilian Plunkett and Pat Presley. It was referred to as Lamoth in some pieces of concept art.^[15]