Jakku

Overview

Jakku is a desert planet in the Western Reaches. The Battle of Jakku marks the open endpoint of the Galactic Empire, and in The Force Awakens we meet Rey here as a scavenger living among the wreckage of old Star Destroyers.

Geography

Sand fields, rock formations and deeply buried ship wrecks define Jakku. Niima Outpost and similar settlements live on salvaging old Imperial technology.

Battle of Jakku

One year after Endor, the Battle of Jakku decisively ends the Galactic Civil War in favor of the New Republic. Star Destroyer wreckage remains visible decades later as a monument to the Empire’s collapse.

Rey’s beginning

Rey spends her youth on Jakku as a waiting-for-family character. She meets BB-8, Finn and Han Solo here, which makes Jakku the entry point of the entire sequel trilogy and of Rey’s Jedi arc.

Significance

Jakku is both a historical endpoint and a narrative starting point: the Empire ends here, and a new generation begins here. To understand Rey’s journey, start on the dunes of Jakku.