In Revenge of the Sith we see construction of the first Death Star already underway.
Then nineteen years later, it’s finally complete.
That’s a long time to build something, but hey, it’s a big space station.
However, the second Death Star, which was even bigger, nearly completed construction
in only four years.
How is that possible?
We don’t currently have a concrete canon answer, but I have thought up a number of
reasons, and we’ll be exploring those ahead.
First, I think we need to reframe how we ask the question.
I think it’s not so much “How could the second Death Star be built so quickly,”
but more “Why did it take so long to build the first?”
It’s my belief that the first Death Star was met with far more challenges to its construction
than the second was, causing massive delays.
Based on a number of sources, I think the superlaser in particular was a major problem.
In the Rogue One trailer, we see it as the final part of its construction.
It’s also my belief that even then it won’t be fully operational.
If you haven’t seen my other video on this topic, I think the Death Star will fire in
Rogue One, but will not yet have the full power to destroy an entire planet.
I think there were two major factors that caused the superlaser itself to be a major
source of delays.
First up is kyber crystals.
Thanks to Clone Wars, Rebels, and more, we know that massive kyber crystals were used
to power not only the Death Star, but ancient superweapons as well.
Problem is they are incredibly rare.
On top of that, there are multiple stories told in different time periods showing the
Separatists’ or the Empire’s loss of a giant kyber crystal.
The loss of such a rare key component could set construction back years if not more.
And we know that as of the time of the Rebels Episode Breaking Ranks, which takes place
five years before the Death Star is completed, the Empire still didn’t have what they needed.
I think Rogue One will reveal the solution to this problem to be the planet Jedha.
I speculated and Donnie Yen pretty much confirmed that kyber crystals are native to the planet.
Multiple canon stories have shown the Empire to mine planets like Lothal for resources
without regard to the environment or citizens.
Jedha should be no different, and I expect they will either find the giant kyber crystals
they need, or they will have developed some way to use tons of smaller crystals instead.
Second is Galen Erso in Rogue One.
I think he will be revealed to have had a hand in its design.
I don’t think he designed the superlaser specifically, but maybe the reactor that powered
it.
Something necessary to its design.
I’ve covered this in previous videos as well but I think he knew the Empire wanted
his work for a massive weapon.
Wanting no part of it he went into hiding until he was tracked down and captured by
Orson Krennic.
At this time, his fifteen year old daughter, Jyn, escaped and was forced to survive on
her own.
Felicity Jones is currently 32 years old.
We don’t know Jyn’s age, but using that as a metric, that would put Galen’s capture
at two years after Revenge of the Sith.
So the Empire was without one of the Death Star’s chief designers for two years.
Additionally, I don’t expect Galen was very cooperative.
He probably drug his feet, maybe even sabotaged the project.
Without Jyn, the Empire wouldn’t have much leverage over him.
On top of all that, while the Death Star might not be the absolute first of its kind, it’s
certainly the first in a very long time.
I’m sure it was a kind of trial and error construction.
In Legends there was a Death Star prototype that was built that very much resembles what
we see in Revenge of the Sith.
There’s nothing in canon that alludes to that framework not being the same station
we see in A New Hope, but I do think what we see in Legends of the Empire needing to
test things as construction went on could easily translate to canon.
There’s no way they built it all perfectly in one attempt.
But that’s just the superlaser I’ve been talking about.
I do think those issues alone could possibly explain why the Death Star took nineteen years
to build.
But if you’re still on the fence, let’s just keep going, because I’ve got more!
Let’s talk about the growing pains of the Empire.
The novel A New Dawn and the short story Bottleneck, both canon and written by John Jackson Miller,
talk about how the Empire is growing faster than the galaxy can keep up with it.
They are building Star Destroyers, stormtrooper armor, blasters, TIE Fighters, and more faster
than resources can be mined.
Count Vidian and Grand Moff Tarkin are sent around to improve productivity, and we know
those issues were continuing at least eight years after the Empire’s creation.
Speaking of Tarkin, he wasn’t promoted to Grand Moff and put directly in charge of the
Death Star until three years before that.
I imagine those first five years were not as productive as the following fourteen with
Tarkin cracking the whip.
Continuing with growing pains and the resources required to build something on this scale,
let’s talk about slave labor.
It’s known in both Legends and Canon that the Empire enslaved alien races to work on
a number of projects, including the Death Star.
That’s not something that can happen overnight.
The Empire wasn’t formed and then immediately races were enslaved to build their secret
superweapon.
But what about the Geonosians?
Weren’t they already working on the Death Star?
Yes, they were, but sometime around the same time Tarkin took charge of the project, construction
was moved to another site, and in order to maintain secrecy, the Empire sterilized the
entire race.
So their whole workforce was lost.
Slavery would be a tricky thing to reintroduce into the galaxy.
The Republic had outlawed the practice, and it wouldn’t be an easy sell to the Senate.
People like Bail Organa and Mon Mothma would surely oppose it.
But over time the slavery of alien races would become more widespread.
I would guess that during much of the Death Star’s construction, slave labor was not
readily available.
But by the time of the second Death Star’s construction, the Empire probably had a much
larger workforce from the start.
So to summarize all the possible problems the first Death Star could have faced, they
likely had to develop a new superlaser using a trial and error system with an uncooperative
designer, using resources that were incredibly rare.
On top of that they had to develop new and more efficient processes to support the secret
construction while continuing to build their still giant capital ships and supply countless
troops with weapons and armor.
And all of this had to be done with a smaller group of workers until the Empire had gained
enough support and power to reinstitute slave labor.
Now let’s take a look at the second Death Star.
I see the biggest hindrance to its construction as the availability of more kyber crystals.
There would be no need for trial and error because the superlaser had already been designed.
There would be no need for Galen Erso as well.
The more efficient processes had already been put into place by Tarkin and Vidian.
And slave labor was widespread by that point.
Assuming the Empire could get their hands on my kyber crystals, I think it’s completely
possible that a second Death Star could be built in four years time.
And keep in mind the second Death Star wasn’t actually completed.
It was made operational in four years’ time, but it could have been another one or two
years away from completion.
My point is the creation of the first Death Star was a much bigger technological accomplishment
that had a lot more working against it during its construction.
The second Death Star had a lot of advantages the first simply didn’t have.
And that’s why I think it’s perfectly reasonable for it to be built in a significantly
shorter time.
And one final point: I think the second Death Star was meant to be a trap for the Rebellion
first and foremost.
Remember, Moff Jerjerrod assures Darth Vader that the station will be operational as planned.
The first Death Star was meant to be a fully completed space station.
I’m sure if the second Death Star had survived the Battle of Endor construction would have
continued and the inner workings would have likely been very similar to the first Death
Star.
But at the time of the Battle of Endor, all the Emperor wanted was bait tempting enough
for the Rebels to send an all-out attack, and the firepower to destroy them.
Hopefully Rogue One or some future story will confirm these points.
It’s been a question asked by fans since the timeline was established.
It would be nice to have some sort of answer.
I do think it’s a topic they will likely cover, as the new canon has been making it
a point to answer even smaller questions, like why Leia had an on again off again accent
in A New Hope.
But anyway, what do you guys think?
Does my argument seem sound?
Do you have any different ideas?
I’d love to hear what you think in the comments!
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