by Ari
Star Wars is so ingrained in the pop culture consciousness that it’s easy to forget how whumpy it actually is. From Luke losing a hand to Leia in Imperial custody and Han Solo in carbonite, our three heroes regularly face betrayal, captivity, and torture — and that’s just the original trilogy!
The world of Star Wars is sprawling and rich, expanded upon in illustrated dictionaries, tie-in novels, video games, two television shows with more in the works, and at least (depending on how you count them) 11 films. There are thousands of characters, hundreds of species, hundreds of years, and dozens of planets to contend with. At this point, Star Wars is practically its own genre. Which makes for an incredibly broad palette to draw from, but it also means that if you set out to write Star Wars whump, there’s a whole lot of lore to catch up on.
Thankfully, whump readers tend to be forgiving: you deliver the whumperflies, they deliver the kudos. But the Star Wars universe presents you with unique opportunities for both hurting and healing your characters, which you can leverage for juicy whump that’s Star Wars specific. That’s what we’re here to talk about today: the mechanics of hurt and healing in the Star Wars universe.
A note on ‘Swarziness’
‘Swarziness’ is a term originating in Star Wars costuming communities, used mainly to discuss how “Star Wars”-y original works and designs feel. Again, whump readers will forgive many sins, but blatant errors will pull readers out of a story. Swarziness applies to everything from word usage (“gun”, which is not swarzy, vs. “blaster”, which is) to worldbuilding (first contact and alien races as metaphor, while tropes beloved by science fiction as a genre, are not swarzy).
Swarziness can be acquired by osmosis by consuming licensed Star Wars material and swarzy fanfic. You can also acquire it in a hardscrabble manner by plugging terms into Wookieepedia and Googling things like “do they have pockets in Star Wars”. Of course, you may also choose to toss swarziness out the window, choosing instead to spend your time researching things like how to treat a compound fracture in an icy environment. But a little bit of extra research might reveal exciting new planets to strand your favorites on or jaw-grinding new torture methods. It’s my personal opinion that if you’re writing in a fantasy or SF universe, you’ll get juicier whump if you leverage the universe’s unique features. So go on, you nerd! Put an EU novel on hold at the library! Spend an afternoon browsing Wookieepedia! Your readers sure won’t mind.
HURT
First on our agenda: let’s do some damage.
Most weapons in Star Wars are energy weapons: blasters, darksabers, lightsabers, electrostaffs. This isn’t to say that you can’t just up and stab your whumpee with a knife, just to say that there are more exciting options (and that “plain knives” are remarkably rare in our galaxy far, far away). Most characters who expect to get into scrapes will carry an energy weapon.
Blasters
“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.”
— Han Solo
Range energy pulse weapons are ubiquitous in Star Wars. They operate more or less as the plot demands them, right down to the color coding: red bolts for baddies, blue bolts for the rebellion. Protagonists are rarely hit (Princess Leia is a notable exception — she’s hit with a stun weapon in the original film and injured by a bolt in Return of the Jedi). Minor antagonists almost always go down with one shot.
While some blasters have training settings or are intended to stun, the majority are intended to kill. Armor may diffuse the energy of a bolt, tossing the wearer back but leaving them generally unharmed. Most blasters produce burn injuries, but some blasters result in bloodier wounds. Blaster injuries are uncommon for protagonists in the Star Wars universe, likely because it is far cooler and more intimate to deal injuries with a close-quarters weapon as opposed to a range weapon. You are, of course, free to injure your characters as you choose, but it’s helpful to consider reader expectations before you stray too far from established laws of blaster use.
Some ideas for interesting ways to hurt your characters with blasters include a malfunctioning training weapon accidentally injuring a teammate, burn wounds (to the limbs for fighting through pain, to the abdomen for an immediate emergency), or the force of a blast being mitigated by armor but knocking a character back with enough force to break ribs or cause a concussion. Stun weapons might make for a quick and embarrassing capture, and malfunctioning energy weapons can deal catastrophic damage. (See Chapter Eight of The Mandalorian for a canonical example.)
Lightsabers
“An elegant weapon for a more civilized age.”
― Obi-Wan Kenobi
Despite their iconic status, lightsabers are relatively rare in the Star Wars universe. (Star Wars films just happen to focus on characters who are likely to have lightsabers.) Lightsabers are capable of cutting through anything, with a handful of exceptions: they can be blocked by other close-range energy weapons, energy shields, and certain exotic materials including Beskar (the rare metal for which the title character is nearly murdered in three separate episodes of The Mandalorian). Lightsabers are almost exclusively wielded by Force users, typically red for Sith and green or blue for Jedi. While it’s not necessary to be a Force user to effectively wield a lightsaber, the weapons are rare and take a significant amount of practice to master. As seen in Revenge of the Sith, lightsabers can quickly amputate (and cauterize) a limb. Like blasters, some lightsabers have a non-lethal training setting.
Unless they’re on a training setting, lightsabers deal lethal damage with ease. Even a glancing blow will cause significant burns. A personal favorite alternate application is “lightsaber as healing implement” for field cauterization scenes.
The Force
The Force is an omnipresent, non-sentient power created by all life forms in the Star Wars universe. It is neither good nor bad — simply powerful. As such, powerful Force users have discovered ways to use it to deal great damage. The Force is not exclusive to Jedi or Sith — there are other Force-based religions, as well as Force-sensitive people unaffiliated with organized religions. The Force grants attuned users a range of skills, from quick reflexes and great strength to telekinesis and telepathy. Certain skills including Force lightning, choking, torturing, and “mind-rape” are exclusive to the “dark side” of the Force. If you’re looking for exotic, invasive forms of torture for your characters, the dark side of the Force has got you covered.
Carbonite
Waaayyy back in the early days of the galaxy far, far away, before the hyperdrive came around, early space colonists froze themselves in carbonite as a sort of cryosleep. In “modern” Star Wars only gangsters, imperials, and bounty hunters (or the occasional good guy with a medical crisis on their hands) are in the habit of freezing sapient beings in carbonite. In an unsourced quote, Wookieepedia describes being frozen in carbonite as “a big, wide-awake nothing” and paints it as a cruel and unpleasant practice. Emerging from carbonite often results in hibernation sickness, the symptoms of which include exhaustion, weakness, dehydration, dizziness, memory loss, and temporary blindness. (Not everyone survives carbonite — sometimes, hibernation sickness ends in the subject’s death.) Han Solo is seen suffering from hibernation sickness in the opening scenes of Return of the Jedi. According to Wookieepedia, his was a relatively minor case. The most commonly-mentioned canonical symptom is blindness, both temporary and not-so-temporary.
Torture
While on-screen torture is mostly limited to droids and granted a family-friendly (if disappointing) cut to black, methods of torture are extensive and creative. The Legends page for “torture” lovingly categorizes tools, techniques, and bugs used for inflicting pain from across the galaxy. It includes sub-sections on, just to give you a sampling, “muscle maggots”, “mind shards”, thirteen types of torture droids, and the cultural significance of torture in Ewok communities. The page is significantly longer than this article is and, if you’re into torture fics, will provide you with fodder for years to come.
Torture droids
Many “torture droids”, including the one used on Princess Leia in the original film, rely more on mind-altering substances than physical pain to extract information. They are an Imperial and post-Imperial invention, so you’re unlikely to encounter one in an Old Republic setting, unless it was hand-designed by a sadistic engineer with a particularly colorful imagination. (For those of you interested in these truth serums, The Military Science of Star Wars is a good source.) Well-trained or particularly resilient subjects can resist a mind probe, however, so torture droids come equipped with a whole host of nasty features. Wookieepedia, ever helpful, lists a few for us: bone fragmenters, chemical torture elements, electroshock nerve probes, flesh peelers, and joint cripplers.
And now, with the terrible phrase “flesh peeler” fresh in our minds, we move with gratitude onto
COMFORT
Because you can’t just drink your hot chocolate (yes, really) and hope for the best.
Bacta
Many serious injuries are healed by bacta, a gelatinous substance that helps the body quickly heal itself. Bacta can be applied in patches or small dishes for minor injuries or as an immersive treatment for serious injuries including concussions, organ damage, and broken bones. When bacta is used as an immersive treatment, patients are equipped with a breathing apparatus and sensors to monitor their vital signs. Many people find the texture of bacta revolting and immersion treatment can be claustrophobia-inducing, so it is usually accompanied by sedatives. Reactions post-bacta vary: some people feel light and rejuvenated, while others slide into a minor depression when removed from the calming, womb-like environment. Other ways of applying bacta exist, including bacta suits and bacta bombs used in combat (yes, really).
“I wonder…,” I hear those of you who write spicier fics saying, “…what else you can do with bacta….?” To which I will hastily reply: please do not ask me about the intimate applications of bacta. I simply do not wish to know.
Medpac/medkit
Your basic first aid kit, just the swarzy version. The contents of a medpac are up to you, within those swarzy boundaries, but likely include bacta patches, stimulants, spray bandages, and wound cleansers (irrigation bulbs). Medpacs, like first aid kits on earth, are only as helpful as the people in charge of them are attentive to replacing exhausted and outdated supplies.
Medical Droids
With a few notable exceptions, “robot delivers medical care” is right up there with “fade to black when it’s just getting bloody” and “skipping the aftercare” on many enthusiasts’ lists of “tropes that have victimised me, personally”. Nevertheless, medical droids are well-established in the Star Wars universe and thus require a segment here.
Medical droids, also known as medi-droids, meddroids, Emdee droids, or surgeon droids, are important in Star Wars medical settings because they are able to effectively treat a huge range of species. There is surprisingly little listed about them on Wookieepedia, but they do not seem to be a rare luxury, as they appear regularly in the films without fanfare. Even the rebellion has access to them — one is seen treating Luke’s amputated hand in The Empire Strikes Back.
If you wish to write a story without medical droids, you don’t have to use the Force to handwave them away. Perhaps the last one broke and the outpost is waiting for the new one, perhaps it’s been sabotaged, perhaps your characters are so far into the Outer Rim that they still have to rely on their own two (or more) hands to place sutures. You might also consider using your medical droid as an instrument for inflicting pain instead of assuaging it — perhaps its circuits are corrupting, it’s been hacked, replaced by nefarious parties, or a critical sensor (the one that listens for screaming?) is broken.
Force Healing
Another one of those love-to-loathe tropes, Force healing is the Star Wars universe’s magical healing. While I think magical healing has great potential both for creating unique dynamics and predicaments on a plot level and as a source for whump, it often removes the need for healing and aftercare scenes which we love so much.
Different writers approach Force healing differently, from presenting it as a challenging skill that a Jedi might fail at for drama to healing major organ damage in minutes. If you’re interested in using Force healing in your fiction, it’s worth browsing the network of related Wookieepedia pages.
Failed Force healing as a source for angst is an excellent way to use the trope for whumpy ends. You might also choose to have a character heal another character in order to torture them again, and while power blackouts don’t seem to be common among Jedi, I haven’t found any reason why you couldn’t write one. Force healing is capable of neutralizing the effects of poisons, which could be an interesting angle to explore.
With most of the HURT and COMFORT out of the way, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty with
DETAILS
For when you realize you need some description to pad out your fine-tuned mix of screaming, moaning, and whimpering.
Clothing
Much whump requires the removal of clothing. This can be a bit of a problem for us Earth-dwellers since there are no jeans in space. (Although there are apparently cable knit sweaters, at least according to The Mandalorian S2E3.) Much of the clothing in Star Wars is practical and based on a character’s home environment or culture, even if they’re off-planet. Clothes for dress occasions and politics are often ornate. Beyond these loose guidelines, you have considerable freedom.
If you are trying to describe a certain item of clothing being removed, pulled back, shredded, or otherwise removed from a body, my first suggestion is to check the requirements list of the appropriate Star Wars costuming club. Rebel Legion has a wide list of requirements for ‘good guys’, 501st Legion does the same for ‘bad guys’, and the Mandalorian Mercs are a separate organization for canon and Mandalorian OCs. These sites are where you’ll learn that Jedi wear tunics and tabards and that the Mando’a word for ‘helmet’ is buy’ce. While not all of these terms are canon, they are swarzy and thus shouldn’t raise eyebrows.
Bonus resource: if you’re writing a Mandalorian character, Mando Creator lists all armor and soft parts in Mando’a.
Oh, and for what it’s worth: undergarments, underwear, and microgarments are all appropriate terms for the base layer that sits next to private parts. Bras are rarely mentioned for some reason, and then usually with the full term brassiere. (Carrie Fisher famously had to tape her chest down during the filming of Episode IV with gaffer tape at Lucas’s insistence.) Best not be discussing ‘panties’ or ‘briefs’.
Swearing and Slang
People in pain tend to get swear-y, no matter what their species or which universe they inhabit. The Star Wars films are light on profanity, although characters do occasionally say “damn”, and “hell” and “ass” have also made appearances (‘Ass’ has so far only been used as an intensifier: Poe Dameron utters the phrase “big-ass door” in The Last Jedi). Nobody says ‘fuck’ in Star Wars. Arms can come off, you can shoot people in the head, you can murder children, but Lucasfilm has to draw the line somewhere!
While you can swear all you like in your fic, anything stronger than “damn” or “hell” strikes me personally as not very swarzy, especially when there’s a whole host of in-universe profanity to choose from. Personal favorites include ‘dank farrik’ (popularized by The Mandalorian) and “kriff”, which includes those harsh “f” and “k” sounds in reverse-order. If you’re looking for some quick flavor, here’s a good intro. Wookieepedia has a long list of profanity and slang, if you’re looking to go deeper. Writing fic featuring a Mandalorian? Please enjoy this helpful collection of Mando’a curses.
Building a Star Wars Original Character
Sometimes you just need an OC for plot reasons. I get it, it happens to all of us. One of the great things about Star Wars is how expansive it feels. It’s normal for interesting new characters to pop into the main story for a brief spell before disappearing back to their normal lives. If I need an OC, I start on Wookieepedia. While species are spread throughout the galaxy, some areas have a concentration of a certain species. When I set a fic on Bespin, for instance, I learned from Wookieepedia that Ugnaught are common there, so it was an easy choice to use an Ugnaught when I needed an OC. Give that species page a skim so you don’t make any glaring errors. From there, head over to this Star Wars name generator. (The generator helpfully includes planet and droid name options.) Mix and match the results and tweak the spellings until you get something that sounds organic. Easy peasy! New swarzy OC in no time.
Final Note
The Star Wars universe is rich, varied, silly, and intriguing all at once. Literally hundreds of writers have worked in this universe on an official capacity, thousands more unofficially. Whether you prefer canon or Legends, bounty hunters or Jedi, there are always more stories to be told, more angles to explore, and more ways to cause your favs exquisite pain before lovingly putting them back together again.
Whatever your take, whoever your favs: happy Star Wars day, and may the Force be with you!
About the author: Ari has been a fan of Star Wars for nearly as long as she’s been a fan of whump, which is a pretty long time! Their favorite planet is Mon Cala, favorite Star Wars is the OG film, favorite Wookieepedia page is the songs page, and their favorite Star Wars whump is Han Solo defrosting from carbonite. When not editing Wince, getting gleefully lost on Wookieepedia, or trying to get into Mandalorian Mercs, Ari blogs at withalittlebitofwhump and collect Star Wars whump at starwarswhump.
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