View source for Hoth

{{Short description|Fictional planet in Star Wars}}
{{about|the fictional planet|other uses|Hoth (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox fictional location
| name = Hoth
| image = hothplanetsurface.jpg
| caption = Hoth and its three natural satellites in ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]''
| source = [[Star Wars]]
| first = ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]''
| last = 
| creator = [[George Lucas]]
| genre = [[Science fiction]]
| type = [[Ice planet]]
}}
'''Hoth''' is an [[ice planet]] in the ''[[Star Wars]]'' [[fictional universe]]. It first appeared in the [[1980 film]] ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'' and has also been a setting in ''Star Wars'' books and video games.

==Description==
Hoth is the sixth [[planet]] of a remote [[star system|system]] of the same name.<ref>{{cite AV media | people=Kershner, Irvin (Director) | date=May 21, 1980 | title=The Empire Strikes Back | medium=Motion picture | publisher=20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm|quote='''General Veers:''' Com-Scan has detected an energy field protecting an area of the sixth planet of the Hoth system.}}</ref> It is a small, [[terrestrial planet]] with three orbiting [[Natural satellite|moon]]s and blanketed entirely by snow and ice. The freezing climate, although habitable, is [[Polar desert|mostly too cold for intelligent life to develop]]. Hoth is home to only a few species, including the towering, predatory [[wampa]], which is the most intelligent creature on the planet, and the gray snow-lizards known as [[tauntaun]]s. Both appear in ''The Empire Strikes Back''.

{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Battle of Hoth
| place             = Hoth system
| partof            = the Galactic Civil War
| date              = 3 ABY
| result            = [[Galactic Empire (Star Wars)|Galactic Empire]] victory
* Destruction of Echo Base
| combatant1        = {{Flagicon image|Rebel Alliance logo.svg}} [[Rebel Alliance]]
| combatant2        = {{Flagicon image|Emblem of the First Galactic Empire.svg}} [[Galactic Empire (Star Wars)|Galactic Empire]]
| commander1        = {{Flagicon image|Rebel Alliance logo.svg}} [[Luke Skywalker]]<br />{{Flagicon image|Rebel Alliance logo.svg}} [[Princess Leia|Leia Organa]]<br />{{Flagicon image|Rebel Alliance logo.svg}} [[Wedge Antilles]]<br />{{Flagicon image|Rebel Alliance logo.svg}} [[Han Solo]]<br />{{Flagicon image|Rebel Alliance logo.svg}} [[Chewbacca]]<br />{{Flagicon image|Rebel Alliance logo.svg}} [[C-3PO]]
| commander2        = {{Flagicon image|Emblem of the First Galactic Empire.svg}} {{Flagicon image|Sith Emblem (Star Wars).svg}} [[Darth Vader]]<br />{{Flagicon image|Emblem of the First Galactic Empire.svg}} [[Admiral Piett]]
}}

==Appearances==

===Film===
In the 1980 film ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', Hoth is the home of the [[Rebel Alliance]]'s secret Echo Base, which is partially installed in natural caves formed by giant ice bubbles.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Illustrated Star Wars Universe|last=Anderson|first=Kevin J.|author-link=Kevin J. Anderson|year=1995|publisher=Bantam Books|location=New York|isbn=0-553-09302-9|pages=96, 107}}</ref> The Rebels patrol the planet by riding indigenous [[tauntaun]]s. At the start of the film, [[Luke Skywalker]] and his tauntaun are attacked by a [[wampa]]. Skywalker eventually escapes and is rescued by [[Han Solo]]. When one of the [[Galactic Empire (Star Wars)|Galactic Empire]]'s probe droids uncovers the base, the Rebels are forced to evacuate. The Empire arrives and deploys ground forces to destroy the base, but the Rebels battle the [[AT-AT]]s with ground artillery and [[List of Star Wars air, aquatic, and ground vehicles#Snowspeeder (T-47 Airspeeder)|snowspeeders]] to stall them and effectively evacuate. This conflict is known as the '''Battle of Hoth'''.

The original draft of ''The Empire Strikes Back'', written by [[Leigh Brackett]], depicted an opening scene with Luke Skywalker on the ridge of an ice planet, though the name "Hoth" was given to the cloud planet at the time (later called [[Bespin]]). The draft also depicted Hoth's wampas attacking the Rebel base.<ref>{{cite news | last1=Pirrello | first1=Phil | last2=Moro | first2=Eric | last3=Collura | first3=Scott | url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2010/05/21/100-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-empire-strikes-back | title=100 Things You Didn't Know About The Empire Strikes Back | work=[[IGN]] | date=May 21, 2010 | access-date=November 21, 2014 }}</ref>

The [[Hardangerjøkulen]] glacier near [[Finse|Finse, Norway]], served as the filming location for Hoth in ''The Empire Strikes Back''. Scenes were filmed in subzero temperatures. For the ground battle scene, [[scale model|miniatures]] were used on a set that used microscopic glass bubbles and baking soda to mimic the snowy territory.<ref>{{cite news | last=Hill | first=Amelia | url=http://scifi.about.com/od/starwarscharacters/a/Star-Wars-Planet-Profiles-Hoth.htm | title=Star Wars Planet Profiles: Hoth | work=[[About.com]] | access-date=November 21, 2014 | archive-date=July 18, 2016 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160718163835/http://scifi.about.com/od/starwarscharacters/a/Star-Wars-Planet-Profiles-Hoth.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===''Legends''===
{{further|Star Wars expanded to other media}}
Hoth has also appeared in ''Star Wars'' comics, books, and video games. In the 1983 [[Star Wars (1977 comic book)|Marvel ''Star Wars'' comic]] "Hoth Stuff!", it is revealed that [[Wedge Antilles]] went missing during the Battle of Hoth. In the novel ''[[Darksaber (novel)|Darksaber]]'' (1995), Luke Skywalker and his lover [[Callista Ming]] travel to Hoth, where they encounter the same wampa that attacked Luke in ''Empire'', but he swiftly kills it. In ''[[Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire|Shadows of the Empire]]'', Hoth is one of several settings for Dash Rendar's adventures, including the Battle of Hoth.

===Video games===
The planet appears in the ''[[Star Wars: Battlefront]]'' series (2004–) as multiplayer maps, and in the [[Lego]]-themed games ''[[Lego Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy]]'' (2006) and ''[[Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga]]'' (2007) during the first two-story levels of ''Episode V''. It also appears as an explorable [[hub world]] in the 2022 game ''[[Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga]]''.

The planet also appears in ''[[Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy]]''.

==Scientific accuracy==

The [[planet#Attributes|planetary attributes]] of the fictional planet Hoth have been scrutinized for scientific accuracy. [[Space.com]] said Hoth most resembled the [[extrasolar planet]] [[OGLE-2005-BLG-390Lb]], "With a surface temperature of {{convert|−364|F|C|sigfig=3|abbr=off}}, it is nearly as frigid as [[Pluto]]."<ref>{{cite news | last=Chao | first=Tom | url=http://www.space.com/12961-10-real-alien-worlds-star-wars-planets.html | title=10 Real Alien Worlds That Resemble 'Star Wars' Planets | date=September 14, 2012 | access-date=November 21, 2014 }}</ref> Bruce Betts of [[The Planetary Society]] said the [[asteroid belt]] near Hoth meant that the planet would have difficulty staying in place. With Hoth being bombarded frequently by asteroids, Betts said it would be unlikely for natural lifeforms (like the wampa and the tauntaun shown in the film) to evolve on the planet.<ref>{{cite journal | author=Staff | url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/photogalleries/starwarsgalaxy/photo5.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050610013820/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/06/photogalleries/starwarsgalaxy/photo5.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 10, 2005 | title=The Worlds of ''Star Wars'': Hoth |journal=[[National Geographic (magazine)|National Geographic]] | date=October 28, 2010 | access-date=November 21, 2014 }}</ref>

Jeanne Cavelos theorized in ''[[The Science of Star Wars (book)|The Science of Star Wars]]'' that the frequency of [[meteoroid]]s bombarding Hoth indicated that the planet was relatively young since in older solar systems, the debris is more cleared out. Since Hoth has complex lifeforms, Cavolos said the planet's age may be older, in the range of several billion years. The author said Hoth could be similar to [[Earth]] in age but lack neighboring planets like [[Jupiter]] and [[Saturn]] to shelter it from meteoroid impacts. She also said with the [[asteroid belt]] depicted in the film as close to Hoth that the belt was a likely source for meteoroids. (The asteroid belt itself is unrealistically depicted as being closely clustered, which would normally mean that the asteroids would be reduced to sand-sized rubble over a long enough timespan.)<ref>{{cite book | last=Cavelos | first=Jeanne | date=2007 | title=The Science of Star Wars | publisher=Macmillan | isbn=978-1-4299-7176-8 | pages=14–17 }}</ref>

CJ Miozzi, writing for ''[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]]'', said that Hoth was realistic as a single-[[biome]] planet (among numerous such planets in ''Star Wars''), citing Jupiter's moon [[Europa (moon)|Europa]] as a similar example. Miozzi said the planet was depicted in the ''Star Wars'' books as being geologically active and having additional smaller lifeforms, including [[lichen]]. The author said lichen on Earth was an important part of the [[food chain]] during winter months but that it could grow back outside these months. With Hoth perpetually iced over, Miozzi said lichen likely would not be sufficient to support a multi-tiered food chain that includes an [[apex predator]], the wampa.<ref>{{cite news | last=Miozzi | first=CJ | url=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/scienceandtech/columns/forscience/11200-.3 | title=''Star Wars'' Canon: Just How Realistic Are the Single-Biome Planets? | work=[[The Escapist (magazine)|The Escapist]] | date=March 27, 2014 | access-date=November 21, 2014 | archive-date=December 25, 2015 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151225155513/http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/scienceandtech/columns/forscience/11200-.3 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Theme park attraction==
Hoth appears in the theme park attraction [[Star Tours - The Adventures Continue]] in [[Disney's Hollywood Studios]] in [[Walt Disney World Resort]] in [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]], [[Florida]] and [[Disneyland|Disneyland Park]] in [[Disneyland Resort]] in [[Anaheim]], [[California]].

==See also==
* [[List of Star Wars planets and moons|List of ''Star Wars'' planets and moons]]
*[[Snowball Earth]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.starwars.com/databank/hoth Hoth] in the Official [[Star Wars Databank]]
* {{Wookieepedia|Hoth}}

{{Star Wars universe|state=collapsed}}

[[Category:Star Wars planets]]
[[Category:Fictional elements introduced in 1980]]