{"id":1818111,"date":"2023-08-24T14:41:53","date_gmt":"2023-08-24T18:41:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/?p=1818111"},"modified":"2023-08-24T14:41:53","modified_gmt":"2023-08-24T18:41:53","slug":"star-wars-and-its-obsession-with-maps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/08\/star-wars-and-its-obsession-with-maps\/","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars and Its Obsession with Maps"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"1818112\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/08\/star-wars-and-its-obsession-with-maps\/ahsoka-map\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1920,803\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"ahsoka-map\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map-300x125.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map-1024x428.jpg\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1818112\" src=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map-1024x428.jpg\" alt=\"Still from an episode of 'Star Wars: Ahsoka' showing the villains surrounded by a virtual map.\" width=\"760\" height=\"318\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map-1024x428.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map-300x125.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map-150x63.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map-1536x642.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map-940x393.jpg 940w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map-956x400.jpg 956w, https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/ahsoka-map.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>The first two episodes of the latest <em>Star Wars<\/em> series, <em>Ahsoka <\/em>(which launched this week), focus on the struggle to acquire, unlock and interpret a map to an unknown destination. Sound familiar? It should: <em>The Force Awakens<\/em> did something awfully similar. <a href=\"https:\/\/gizmodo.com\/star-wars-ahsoka-map-peridea-disney-plus-1850767815\"><em>Gizmodo<\/em>\u2019s James Whitbrook explores <em>Star Wars<\/em>\u2019 apparent map obsession<\/a>, and concludes it\u2019s about knowledge, and how easily it\u2019s lost. \u201cAnd that\u2019s it, really: maps are important in <em>Star Wars<\/em> because knowledge is power in <em>Star Wars<\/em> as much as a Death Star or the Force is. And specifically in the case of a long, long time ago, archival knowledge and history is <em>incredibly<\/em> vital to understanding why <em>Star Wars<\/em> is the way it is.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Previously: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/09\/mapping-star-wars\/\">Mapping Star Wars<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The first two episodes of the latest Star Wars series, Ahsoka (which launched this week), focus on the struggle to acquire, unlock and interpret a map to an unknown destination. Sound familiar? It should: The&hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2023\/08\/star-wars-and-its-obsession-with-maps\/\">More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"autoblue_enabled":true,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[619],"tags":[644,1386],"class_list":["post-1818111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-movies-and-television","tag-science-fiction","tag-star-wars","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1787769,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2019\/09\/mapping-star-wars\/","url_meta":{"origin":1818111,"position":0},"title":"Mapping Star Wars","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"20 September 2019","format":"link","excerpt":"From a certain point of view, The Force Awakens is the story of how a rare and valuable map was kept out of the hands of an unscrupulous and extremely motivated collector. While a map served as the MacGuffin of Episode 7, maps of the Star Wars universe have been\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Imaginary Maps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/imaginary-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Star Wars: The Force Awakens (screenshot)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/the-force-awakens-map-1024x547.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/the-force-awakens-map-1024x547.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/the-force-awakens-map-1024x547.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/the-force-awakens-map-1024x547.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1843023,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2025\/06\/star-wars-galaxy-map-updated\/","url_meta":{"origin":1818111,"position":1},"title":"Star Wars Galaxy Map Updated","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"25 June 2025","format":"link","excerpt":"starwars.com Jason Fry reports: \u201cVery happy to share that we\u2019ve restored the cartography page on starwars.com that was originally developed for The Essential Atlas. You\u2019ll find a revised galaxy map (based on the wonderful 2021 Star Wars Celebration poster map and designed by DK) and a new appendix of star\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Imaginary Maps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/imaginary-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/star-wars-galaxy-2025-06-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/star-wars-galaxy-2025-06-crop.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/star-wars-galaxy-2025-06-crop.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/star-wars-galaxy-2025-06-crop.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/star-wars-galaxy-2025-06-crop.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/star-wars-galaxy-2025-06-crop.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2832,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2016\/09\/mapping-star-trek\/","url_meta":{"origin":1818111,"position":2},"title":"Mapping Star Trek","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"15 September 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"This month marks\u00a0Star Trek\u2019s 50th anniversary, so I thought it might be worth it to put together a little post about maps in\u00a0Star Trek.\u00a0This proved to be more fraught\u00a0a subject than I expected. There are a lot of maps of the\u00a0Star Trek universe out there by divers hands, some more\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Movies and Television&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Movies and Television","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/movies-and-television\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/st-dimension-150x112.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/st-dimension-150x112.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/st-dimension-150x112.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/st-dimension-150x112.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/st-dimension-150x112.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/st-dimension-150x112.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1107434,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2018\/01\/the-great-map-of-movieland\/","url_meta":{"origin":1818111,"position":3},"title":"The Great Map of Movieland","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"2 January 2018","format":"link","excerpt":"The Great Map of Movieland is a whimsical map that plots 1,800 movie titles on an imaginary terrain. Film genres appear as regions (Adventure Plains, Coming of Age Peninsula) and the films themselves appear as towns, with town size correlating to a film's importance. (It's a bit odd to see\u00a0Star\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Imaginary Maps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Imaginary Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/imaginary-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/movieland-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/movieland-1024x683.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/movieland-1024x683.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/movieland-1024x683.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1788711,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2020\/04\/star-maps-history-artistry-and-cartography\/","url_meta":{"origin":1818111,"position":4},"title":"Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"14 April 2020","format":"link","excerpt":"The March 2020 issue (PDF) of Calafia, the journal of the California Map Society, has as its theme the mapping of space. It also has something from me in it: my review of the third edition of Nick Kanas\u2019s Star Maps: History, Artistry, and Cartography. An excerpt: It\u2019s important to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Antique Maps&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Antique Maps","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/antique-maps\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/IMG_8122.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1791914,"url":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/2021\/10\/new-yorks-mta-is-testing-a-new-subway-map\/","url_meta":{"origin":1818111,"position":5},"title":"New York\u2019s MTA Is Testing a New Subway Map","author":"Jonathan Crowe","date":"17 October 2021","format":"link","excerpt":"The Wall Street Journal is reporting that New York\u2019s Metropolitan Transit Authority is experimenting with new network maps that adopt a diagrammatic design that harkens back to Massimo Vignelli\u2019s 1972 design, or (frankly) to designs used by most other transit systems. The new maps appear in nine subway stations side-by-side\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Transit&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Transit","link":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/category\/transit\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"MTA Customer Information Pilot Maps","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.maproomblog.com\/xq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/mta-subway-diagram-pilot-1024x614.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1818111"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818111\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1818115,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1818111\/revisions\/1818115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1818111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1818111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.maproomblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1818111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}