Tamal Kundu
While creating the ‘Star Wars’ universe, one of the sources that George Lucas and his collaborators seemingly used as inspiration is Frank Herbert’s ‘Dune’ novel series. So, the two franchises have quite a few elements in common. And that includes the presence of a narcotic substance known as the Spice. In the ‘Dune’ universe, the uses of Spice have been diversified due to the dogmatic transition of society and now encompasses even interstellar travels. In comparison, the Spice in the ‘Star Wars’ universe is predominantly used as a drug. However, there are quite a few types of Spice, one of them being the Sansanna Spice. Here is everything you need to know about it. SPOILERS AHEAD.
What Is Sansanna Spice?
In episode 2 of ‘The Book of Boba Fett,’ titled ‘Chapter 2: The Tribes of Tatooine,’ the protagonist brings down a hovertrain belonging to the Pyke Syndicate with the help of a Tusken tribe. As the Tuskens are notorious raiders, the Syndicate fire at them indiscriminately when they pass by on their train. Boba convinces the Tuskens that they have a chance against the technologically-superior Syndicate and leads the effort, eventually stopping the train on its track.
After Boba discovers that their enemies are Pykes, he realizes what cargo they are carrying. As mentioned above, Sansanna is a type of Spice. In canon, Sansanna Spice is a powerful and infamous narcotic. Several criminals seek to possess it for personal use and distribution. In ‘Revival’ (season 5 episode 1 of ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’), Sith Maul and his brother Savage Opress attack a space station located in the Cybloc system.
The transport ship they end up stealing has a crate filled with pure Sansanna Spice. The pirate group led by Hondo Ohnaka later finds the Spice while plundering the ship. At the height of the Clone Wars, the Syndicate is led by a male Pyke named Lom. He was an infamous user of Sansanna Spice. He carried around an amulet with Sansanna inside. He was also seen with Spice spots on his face and fingers.
Spice mines are found all over the galaxy, with arguably the most prominent ones being located on the Planet Kessel, where slave labor is used to mine the substance. When Sidious was in power, both the empire and the Syndicate ran the mines in Kessel. The former then employed smugglers and freight captains to get the Spice to criminal organizations in Coruscant.
Luke Skywalker grew up believing that his father was a Spice freight captain. Boba, who worked for high-ranking imperials until the fall of the Empire, is well aware of how the Syndicate and the Spice transportation work. He forces the Syndicate to pay taxes to the Tusken tribe for the privilege to transport their cargo through their land.
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