Ever since the Death Star blew up Alderaan, massive superweapons have been one of the most dramatic and integral parts of the Star Wars story. In fact, it could be argued that such superweapons are as important to the franchise as the Jedi.
The climactic final battle in Return of the Jedi takes its most dramatic twist upon the revelation that the second Death Star is operating at full capacity. In the critically-acclaimed video game Knights of the Old Republic, the Sith Lord Darth Revan conquers half the galaxy with a fleet he built using the Star Forge. Disney also seems to believe in the narrative importance of superweapons, as the plot of The Force Awakens is all about defeating the Starkiller Base. That said, the World Devastators in the Star Wars Legends comic Dark Empire are by far the deadliest of all the superweapons in the franchise.
To understand what makes the World Devastators so impactful, one need only look at the two sources of inspiration for these massive weapons. They combine the powers of the Death Star (planetary-devastating and powerful tractor beams) with the Star Forge seen in Knights of the Old Republic. For those unfamiliar with the game, KOTOR takes place millennia before the events of the original trilogy. A Jedi hero named Revan saved the Republic from conquest by the Mandalorians, then traveled to the Unknown Regions of the galaxy, where he turned to the dark side. With a brand new fleet of ships and an army of fallen Jedi, Revan attacked the Republic he had just saved. This fleet was created by the Star Forge, a giant floating shipyard created by the ancient Rakatan Empire that would channel energy from a nearby star to mass-produce battleships and combat droids. Millennia later, Imperial World Devastators combined this incredible scale of automated shipbuilding with the planetary destruction of the Death Star.
First appearing in Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy's comic Star Wars: Dark Empire, the World Devastators were a fleet of superweapons that would use their tractor beams to tear planets apart. They sucked huge chunks of a planet into their hulls, converting the raw material into huge starships, starfighters, and walkers. While these superweapons were far smaller than something like the Death Star and took a bit longer to demolish a planet, they were nigh-indestructible, and when working together was every bit as destructive while also being more efficient with their use of resources.
Another major plot point in Dark Empire is the return of Emperor Palpatine, who transferred his consciousness into a new clone body. In so doing, he combines his dark side Force abilities with technology -- something done by the Rakatan Infinite Empire, whose entire civilization was powered by the dark side -- and who built the Star Forge as part of their own galactic conquest. While the Rakata and the Star Forge were almost forgotten by the time of Palpatine, the Sith Lord Darth Revan (who created the Rule of Two) discovered the remains of the Star Forge. It seems likely Bane would share such knowledge with his own Sith apprentice, and therefore it is quite possible that Rakata technology allowed the Empire to build its superweapons using the dark side of the Force.
In Dark Empire II, the World Devastators' creator is revealed to be Umak Leth, an Imperial Engineer who also helped design the Death Star. In Legends continuity, both were constructed at a research center called the Maw Installation, along with other Imperial superweapons. One such superweapon, the Sun Crusher, could unleash even greater firepower. However, none had the same pragmatic capabilities as the World Devastators. Since they created whole fleets of warships from the planets they destroyed, the World Devastators were the only superweapon that simultaneously strengthened the Empire's forces while unleashing widespread ruination of its enemies.
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