Echo Base

Echo Base was the Rebel Alliance facility established on the frigid planet Hoth after the Rebels were forced to evacuate their previous base following the Battle of Yavin. After the Rebels acquired Imperial data on potential locations for a new base and cold-weather material, Senior Captain Thrawn of the Galactic Empire was able to identify the characteristics of the potential base's location, allowing the Sith Lord Darth Vader to accelerate his discovery of the base. Luke Skywalker crash-landed a smuggling ship on Hoth while fleeing an Imperial blockade, and afterward recommended the planet be the Rebels' new home. This was followed by a recommendation by Major Kem Monnon and the Alliance's Habassa allies, and Alliance High Command thusly chose the frozen world as their new headquarters.

Construction of the base was spearheaded by Major Monnon. Monnon's team chose to work with the natural environment, rather than forcing it to conform to their needs, reinforcing, expanding, and connecting existing ice caverns in the Clabburn Range glacial flow south of the Nev Ice Flow. Rebel equipment initially had issues withstanding Hoth's extremely low temperatures, which forced the Rebels to get creative until engineers could modify their tools to operate in the cold. During construction, the sounds of Rebel technology attracted the local wampa ice beasts, though the creatures were quickly isolated and killed. After the base's completion in 3 ABY, Skywalker and the smuggler Han Solo were dispatched from Echo Base on tauntaun patrol; however, Skywalker did not return, having fallen victim to a wampa attack.

Solo returned to the base alone and informed General Carlist Rieekan that he had to leave the Rebellion to address his death mark with Jabba the Hutt. While the General respected Solo's decision, Princess Leia Organa overheard the conversation, confronted Solo in a hallway and unsuccessfully attempted to persuade him to stay. After realizing the Skywalker had not returned to base, Solo set out on tauntaun to locate his friend, eventually finding him collapsed in the snow. The following morning, snowspeeders were dispatched from Echo Base to locate the two, and the duo was spotted by Zev Senesca and rescued. Shortly after, the Empire discovered Echo Base through a probot that landed on Hoth and detected the base's shield generator. Solo and his Wookiee counterpart, Chewbacca, were sent to investigate, and upon discovering the probe, the Rebels initiated an evacuation.

The Empire deployed Blizzard Force to the surface to engage the Rebels and destroy the shield generator. Rebel snowspeeders of Rogue Group faced off against Imperial All Terrain Armored Transports while the majority of Rebel forces loaded onto GR-75 medium transports and fled into space. Rebel pilots utilized tow cables to trip Imperial walkers, making them more vulnerable to blasterfire. The shield generator was eventually destroyed, and Vader infiltrated Echo Base, nearly capturing Solo, Organa, their droids C-3PO and R2-D2, and Chewbacca before the group escaped into the nearby asteroid field on the Millennium Falcon. Skywalker managed to escape as well aboard an X-wing starfighter.

Years following the destruction of the base, the hunters Burrk, Nodon, and Nonak set up camp in the base's ruins, funding their expeditions through promotions to big-game hunters. In 12 ABY, the wampas, who were the target of the hunts, learned to work together, killing several paying clients of the trio and trapping the hunters in Echo Base. Eventually, Skywalker and Callista Ming arrived at the base while retracing Skywalker's steps through significant moments in his life, and the two attempted to help the hunters escape. The wampas managed to kill all the hunters, however, before Skywalker noticed the lead wampa was the one he had previously encountered years before and killed her. In 14 ABY, the Disciples of Ragnos occupied Echo Base, hoping to locate the planet Dagobah in the Alliance's old computer core. They were discovered by the Jedi Jaden Korr, who destroyed the forces and defeated the Dark Jedi Alora, though she fled the base.

Text and facts from the “Echo Base/Legends” article on Wookieepedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0. Modified for this site.