Paper

"You have to hold on more tightly."
"But you are a delicate child—my grip will harm you. And I don't want to jumble my papers."
"Falling off the bike will do a lot worse than that."

―Merei Spanjaf and Holshef^[1]

EdgeofBalance-Writing — Jedi Knight Azlin Rell frantically writes upon the paper of his personal journal.

Paper was a material upon which documents could be written or printed. It was considered an outdated form of communication by the High Republic Era.

Description[]

BankingClanIntRate-POP — A datapad (pictured) was a more common medium of writing than paper or flimsiplast.

Paper was formed from pulp via a process. Upon its completion, paper could be written on or printed upon, such as by usage of a printing press. By the time of the High Republic Era^[2] and heading into the reign of the Galactic Empire^[3] and that of the New Republic,^[4] the existence of books with ink printed on paper,^[3] let alone the usage of paper as a way to write a message,^[4] was relatively rare in the galaxy.^[3] Indeed, even knowing someone who made paper was a rare feat by the High Republic Era.^[2] By the time of the First Order-Resistance War, paper was considered a primitive material.^[5] During the High Republic Era, the ability to make paper was considered by Child of the Open Hand Yana Ro to be a throwback to a bygone era.^[2] Flimsiplast was another material in the galaxy that could be written upon. While more common than paper in the Imperial Era,^[3] even flimsiplast was seen as an outdated medium compared to writing upon a datapad.^[6]

History[]

Ancient history[]

"Ryloth has never had much in the way of resources, and whatever they had was traditionally taken away from them by either the Niktos or the Hutts. They learned that if they wanted to preserve their own version of their history, this was the only way they could do it. We have to respect that, even if it makes our jobs harder."

―Leia Organa, speaking during the New Republic, on Ryloth's use of paper and other written materials^[4]

Wide-scale usage of paper^[4] occurred in a bygone era^[2] that predated the days of even the Old Republic. The Ryloth archives in Lessu, capital city of the planet Ryloth, made extensive use of paper instead of technology such as computers or holograms. Such was because Ryloth, itself never a world with many resources to its name, lost whatever wealth it did secure to factions like the Niktos and Hutts. As such, the native Twi'leks were forced to use paper—along with other printed or written forms of communication in the form of writing upon tanned hides, wooden tablets, or rolls—to maintain their historical record.^[4]

Republic Era[]

EdgeofBalance-TornPapers — Pages are torn from Azlin Rell's personal journal

During the High Republic Era, some of the Elders of the Path of the Open Hand cult knew how to make paper out of pulp as a throwback to the days in which paper had been used more commonly. The Path also owned a printing press.^[2] In 382 BBY^[7] ahead of the Battle of Dalna, the Path produced paper leaflets outlining their anti-Jedi beliefs and attempted to hand those pamphlets out to their fellow residents of the planet Dalna. Child of the Open Hand Yana Ro was very surprised to see paper in use.^[2] After the battle, Jedi Knight Azlin Rell began to compose a journal about the Nameless^[8] that used paper, much to the surprise of Jedi Padawan Matthea Cathley, who could only guess he recovered it from the Path's printing press.^[2]

In 231 BBY,^[9] Xylan Graf of the wealthy and esteemed Graf family, delivered a message to Sylvestri Yarrow on paper. Yarrow thought that Graf was showing off his wealth by using paper to deliver the message.^[10] During the Nihil conflict between the Nihil and the Galactic Republic, Rell's old journal about the Nameless became a subject of interest to both the Eye of the Nihil Marchion Ro,^[8] who unleashed the Nameless against the Jedi,^[11] and the Jedi themselves.^[8]

Imperial and New Republic Eras[]

"RUN."

―The message on the paper streamer left atop Leia Organa's plate ahead of the Napkin Bombing^[4]

Agent Alexsandr Kallus (pictured) was surprised to see physical books made using paper.

Agent Alexsandr Kallus of the Imperial Security Bureau was surprised to observe books with paper on the bookshelves of Captain Zataire on the Lawbringer.^[3] Holshef, an elderly human male poet, wrote his poems on paper. During his time in hiding from the Galactic Empire for his rebellious artistic expressions, he accumulated massive piles of papers of his poetry. He was later forced to flee with only a week's worth of writings. During a wild chase on a jumpspeeder, many of these blew away and one of them blinded a bounty hunter that was chasing him and Merei Spanjaf, resulting in a fatal accident.^[1]

Virtually no being in the galaxy physically wrote on paper by the time of the New Republic Era.^[4] By 28 ABY,^[7] Leia Organa, who served as a senator in the New Republic Senate and within the Imperial Senate before it, had not seen handwritten words done with ink in years. The only exception had been that which was written on historical documents she saw. However, in that year, a physical paper streamer with the word "RUN" written in ink was left on her plate ahead of a breakfast in the senate conference building, warning her of the soon-to-be-dubbed Napkin Bombing. Later, when Organa and her retinue investigated the Ryloth archives, they were dismayed to learn that the material in the archives was all either written or printed on paper, tanned hides, wooden tablets or rolls, feeling as if they were in the days before the Old Republic. All the same, Organa made it clear to her staff they needed to respect the usage of such materials because they had been some of the only ways for the people of Ryloth to maintain their histories.^[4]

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Behind the scenes[]

"Paper has been in the mix for decades, but it's long been suggested to be rare and outdated by modern standards."

―Pablo Hidalgo, on paper in the Star Wars universe^[12]

Within Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, a background extra appearing as a Jedi Temple technician uses a physical clipboard with paper as their prop, something that Pablo Hidalgo of the Lucasfilm Story Group noted would be rare in the Star Wars universe. In his tweet on the subject, Hidalgo noted the rare occurrence but did not confirm if, in-universe, the object was supposed to be paper or flimsiplast.^[13] Instead, he noted the clipboard, along with its paper, was likely just an off-the-shelf prop given out with speed in mind and urged fans not to read too far into the clipboard's appearance.^[14]