How the Written Phrase Developed in ‘Star Wars’

To start with there was the phrase, and that phrase was Fundamental. However simply how you approach writing the first language of the galaxy far, far-off, has been an enchanting matter of exploration in Star Wars from its start. The necessity to flesh out Star Wars right into a wider universe after the unique movie exploded into reputation created a worldbuilding problem that might take a long time to “remedy”—and in doing so created a wealthy number of writing techniques to populate its galaxy.

Fundamental: The Language of Star Wars

Earlier than you even get to easy methods to even write it, you must know what Fundamental (also referred to as Galactic Fundamental, or Galactic Fundamental Normal) represents in Star Wars. Though we as an English-speaking viewers hear it as English—and naturally Star Wars is a fictional universe created by English-language audio system—Fundamental itself is just not meant to be a direct equal to spoken English.

Though we now have seen that a number of languages exist throughout the Star Wars galaxy—Rodese, Shyriiwook, Huttese, Sith, Ghor, and so forth—Fundamental is basically a lingua franca, a standard language adopted on a broad degree by galactic society. However after we watch Star Wars, we aren’t actually listening to Fundamental, however as an alternative Fundamental’s translation into English, or no matter language you’re watching a Star Wars undertaking in: the Japanese dub of A New Hope is as canon to Star Wars as its English-language model is, even when there are delicate variations because of the nature of translation.

However that generalized view of Fundamental was not totally shaped when Star Wars was created—not in its spoken type, as that didn’t actually matter for probably the most half. Its written type, nonetheless, rapidly turned a difficulty.

The unique Star Wars is roofed with English signage and written phrases on shows, one thing that might change within the wake of the movie’s blockbuster success. Each Empire Strikes Again and Return of the Jedi would, with the boldness that audiences had accepted the galaxy far, far-off, transfer away from placing English textual content on-screen, as an alternative creating distinctive writing techniques—reams of textual content that weren’t simply left untranslated, however had been by no means given which means behind the symbology past the graphic design.

Enter Aurebesh

That will start to vary with the arrival of the Expanded Universe within the early Nineties and Aurebesh.

Aurebesh was developed in 1994 by Stephen Crane for a companion booklet to West Finish Video games’ tabletop skirmish recreation Star Wars Miniatures Battles, a by-product designed for miniatures initially supposed for use with the corporate’s extremely influential Star Wars roleplaying recreation. Impressed by a font design glimpsed within the opening of Return of the Jedi, Aurebesh was fleshed out by Crane with Lucasfilm’s approval.

A 34-character alphabet, Aurebesh takes its identify equally to how “alphabet” itself is a portmanteau of the primary two characters of the Greek alphabet, alpha and beta, as an alternative borrowing the primary two characters Crane established, Aurek and Besh. The writing system was additional expanded upon by Crane within the 1996 complement Imperial Entanglements, which added punctuation, and by that point, though different Expanded Universe works had tried to ascertain their very own non-Latin writing techniques (corresponding to Atrisian Script, mostly seen all through the LucasArts Star Wars video games within the mid-’90s), Aurebesh rapidly turned broadly adopted by EU materials as the first written phrase of Star Wars.

However the EU, as influential and fashionable because it was on the time, was not the flicks—and Aurebesh would arguably actually take off when it was first used on-screen in Star Wars in 1999, alongside different newly launched typefaces, in The Phantom Menace. From there, Aurebesh as Crane had designed it could proceed to look all through EU materials and the prequel trilogy. In 2004, when the unique Star Wars was re-released on DVD, certainly one of a number of beauty tweaks included the official overwriting of what had beforehand been English textual content with accurately translated Aurebesh, successfully establishing the writing system as Fundamental’s official writing system, showing closely once more in sequence like Clone Wars, and naturally, after Star Wars‘ sale to Disney and the reshuffling of Star Wars canon.

Crane initially didn’t design a numerical system for Aurebesh, because the alien textual content seen in Return of the Jedi nonetheless utilized Arabic numerals—an alternate dot-based quantity system was really created in 1995 for the West Finish Video games RPG complement Platt’s Starport Information, and ultimately discovered its means into Star Wars canon by the popularization of fan-made fonts shared on-line, particularly Peter Schuster’s New Aurabesh, first launched in 1998. The font, together with its West Finish-inspired numerical system, would ultimately be utilized in episodes of Clone Wars and Rebels, and seem alongside continued use of Arabic numerals within the Disney-era motion pictures.

For as broadly adopted as Aurebesh turned, nonetheless, the system didn’t come with out its faults. The Latin alphabet nonetheless often appeared in Star Wars materials alongside Aurebesh, which means that it existed within the galaxy far, far-off even when Aurebesh was considerably extra widespread. That alphabet additionally inadvertently performed a key half in Star Wars worldbuilding by ship design: particularly, that alphabet fighters had been all constructed across the adoption of the Latin alphabet earlier than Aurebesh existed (they’re X-Wings, in spite of everything, not Xesh-Wings). Ship design, amongst different army designations, raised related questions with different real-world alphabets too, particularly with the Greek alphabet, which was steadily adopted all through the sequence, from Lambda-class Imperial shuttles, to Delta Squad, the celebrities of Republic Commando.

Additional Writing Types in Star Wars

Though Aurebesh and variations upon it have grow to be the dominant written language of Star Wars at this time, there are tons of of writing techniques throughout the EU and up to date canon to replicate tons of extra languages past simply Galactic Fundamental. Right here’s just a few examples past Aurebesh which have existed throughout the unique Expanded Universe and present continuity.

• Atrisian Script: As beforehand talked about, this writing system, just like Aurebesh, was impressed by the typeface seen in Return of the Jedi. First recognized as such in a 1997 West Finish Video games RPG journal, Atrisian Script was retroactively established as the first typeface in Star Wars‘ ’90s gaming increase, showing in Darkish Forces, TIE Fighter, X-Wing, and extra earlier than the popularization of Aurebesh.
• Excessive Galactic: Excessive Galactic was codified as the reason for why the Latin alphabet nonetheless existed alongside Aurebesh. First known as such in a 2010 Star Wars Hyperspace Fan Membership article known as The Written Phrase, Excessive Galactic has since made its means into up to date continuity, and was first recognized as such within the 2015 novel Inheritor to the Jedi. Excessive Galactic is taken into account rarer, and schooling within the utilization of it was largely the pursuit of the higher courses, compared to the extra broadly adopted Aurebesh.
• Tionese: Equally, Tionese (named for the Tion Cluster, a system of planets within the Outer Rim) was established by that very same 2010 article because the in-universe equal to the Greek alphabet. In each the Expanded Universe and its far briefer existence in up to date continuity, Tionese is taken into account an historic writing system, nonetheless current however lengthy since changed by Aurebesh.
• Commerce Federation Script: One among a number of writing techniques launched in The Phantom Menace alongside the primary makes use of of Aurebesh on display (together with Futhark and Fothork, two totally different Naboo writing techniques), this writing system was principally utilized by first the Commerce Federation, tailored from the Nemoidian writing system for his or her native tongue Pak Pak, after which broadly all through the prequel period and Clone Wars because the Fundamental writing system adopted by the Separatist Confederacy.
• Sith/Ur-Kittat: A number of Sith writing techniques existed over the course of the Expanded Universe, some taking inspiration from hieroglyphs, others extra runic techniques. Sith as we all know it at this time was largely developed by Ben Grossblatt for the 2010 reference e-book E-book of Sith. The writing system established there would go on for use in Star Wars Rebels, and appeared throughout a number of TV sequence earlier than being prominently used as a plot level in The Rise of Skywalker.
• Mando’a: The language of the Mandalorians is likely one of the most fleshed-out constructed languages in Star Wars, with its major spoken type fleshed out for the 2005 shooter Republic Commando after which by writer Karen Traviss for her tie-in novel sequence. However written Mandalorian really predates Mando’a’s broad growth, first showing as a typeface made for Assault of the Clones. This written type would then go on to look all through Clone Wars and Rebels‘ use of the Mandalorians, earlier than returning to live-action use in The Mandalorian season two.
• A number of writing techniques have been launched for the reason that reboot of Star Wars canon. Protobesh and Domabesh, though named equally to Aurebesh, had been new writing techniques created as graphic design for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, supposed to be historic writing techniques established earlier than Aurebesh. Ghor, developed considerably as a conlang for Andor‘s second season, additionally had not one, however two writing techniques developed as a part of that course of: Dixian and Ghorelle, also referred to as Low and Excessive Ghor, respectively.

One factor that has remained true about writing inside Star Wars all through the final virtually 50 years is that its growth is as pushed by followers as it’s creatives working within the galaxy far, far-off. From the earliest days of the EU, it was not simply ancillary materials however the work of followers collating and growing font packs within the early days of Web fandom who helped codify and standardize writing techniques that might then work their means into different major materials just like the prequels and TV exhibits like Clone Wars—a legacy that persists to this present day, with resources like AurekFonts not simply collating writing utilized in Star Wars, however designing typefaces that then in flip make their means into official materials.

Questioning what studying and writing is like within the galaxy far, far-off has lengthy been the pursuit of Star Wars followers, so it’s actually solely becoming that they’ve performed such a basic position in serving to form what we now have come to find out about all of it throughout the years.

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