Temple of Desire

The Temple of Desire was an ancient temple built by the Great Order in Arrakeen, located deep in the Dune Sea on Tatooine. The temple was built on top of a Force nexus, which altered an individual’s perceptions based on what they wanted to see. By 22 BBY, parts of the temple, like the settlement itself, had been reduced to ruins.

Thousands of years earlier, the Great Order banished one of its own members, Eden, to the temple. She committed a series of murders, so the Great Order left her in the temple to die. Her presence lived on due to the Force nexus, which amplified her spirit and allowed her to communicate with those who encountered her.

Layout and locations
"The Force nexus located deep within the ruins provided you...with a life-like image of what you wanted to see here: water."

- Sarus confirms that the water in the temple was a figment of Skywalker’s imagination

The Temple of Desire was built in the Arrakeen settlement in the Dune Sea on Tatooine. The temple was built on top of a Force nexus located deep within the settlement. This nexus of raw Force power had the ability to alter an individual's perceptions, allowing them to see things while in the settlement that were not actually there.

The temple had two main locations. The first area was large room that resembled what Annikin Skywalker noted as a typical temple, and it was in this room that he had a Force nexus-induced vision of an invader who attempted to kill him. When Skywalker was inside of the room, the walls were lined with lit torches. The floor of the area was crafted out of stone, with tall pillars coming up out of it and into the ceiling. This room was connected to the entrance to the temple and a nearby cave through a series of tunnels. These tunnels had numerous paintings and symbols etched into the walls, including a representation of the Prophecy of the Chosen One.

The second main location was a cave near the Force nexus. When Skywalker saw the cave, it had running water throughout it, though Sarus, the leader of the Ophuchi Clan in 22 BBY, later confirmed that this was a figment of Skywalker’s imagination created by the Force nexus based on what he wanted to see. This cave was where Skywalker had a vision of Eden, a woman who had been bathing in the cave's imaginary water when he first saw her.

History
The Temple of Desire was built in Arrakeen by the Great Order sometime prior to the schism that broke the order apart. The temple later came to serve as the final resting place of Eden, a member of the Great Order. Eden had fallen prey to the dark side of the Force and became a temptress. She would attempt to seduce a number of men and kill those who rejected her. As punishment for her crimes, members of the Great Order captured her and brought her to the Temple of Desire to die. Her presence remained in the temple and was amplified by the Force, allowing her spirit to communicate with those who encountered her.



In the millennia that followed, the temple was used by the Ophuchi Clan, a group of hermits who settled on Tatooine after the schism in the Great Order. In 22 BBY, Sarus traveled to the Temple of Desire along with Jedi Knight Obi-Wan Kenobi and Annikin Skywalker, the latter of whom Sarus believed would fulfill the Prophecy of the Chosen One and become the savior of the galaxy. Sarus's goal was to test Skywalker and show the young man what his greatest fears were, which Sarus believed was necessary if Skywalker was to fulfill his supposed destiny. What Skywalker was not aware of was that these fears would be manifested by the Force nexus as visions.

Skywalker ventured into the Temple of Desire without Sarus and Kenobi, carrying a knife with him that amplified his fear within the Force nexus. He eventually discovered the cave deep in the temple, where he met the spirit of Eden. She attempted to sexually seduce him, but he rejected her and left the cave. In the large temple room before the cave, Skywalker then encountered a vision of an invader who attempted to kill him. Because Skywalker brought the knife into the temple with him and was unable to overcome the fears he was confronted with, namely a fear of emotional commitment and a fear of change, Sarus told him that he failed the test. Sarus also later admitted that everything the young man saw was an illusion, including the water in the cave.

Behind the scenes
The Temple of Desire was created by Brandon Rhea for his fan fiction novel Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One. Rhea based the segment off of a similar scene on in , where  enters a cave with his weapons and sees a vision of his greatest fear–falling to the dark side and becoming like. Rhea made a point to show that Annikin Skywalker's fear was a fear of change and giving into emotions such as desire, which he tied together by stating that "giving into emotional desire sparks changes in your life." The segment and its similarities to The Empire Strikes Back have been well-received by readers.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: Episode I - The Chosen One