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star wars - Does the concept of the Abrahamic god exist in the galaxy far, far away?


As noted in this question, the concepts of heaven and hell appear to exist in the galaxy far, far away; Han even mentions the latter in The Empire Strikes Back:



RANDOM JERK REBEL GUY: Your Tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker!


HAN SOLO: Then I'll see you in HELL!




The modern concepts of heaven and hell have their origins in the so-called Abrahamic religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.


Therefore, since the galaxy far, far away has heaven and hell, it is logical to ask if the galaxy far, far away has some concept of the Abrahamic god.


Adding fuel to the fire, DVK's answer here notes that Han's freighter contains a compartment he hasn't been able to open. The ID number on the compartment is identical to the ID number on the crate in which the Ark of the Covenant is stored in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Surely, if a holy relic associated with the Abrahamic god of Judaism is referenced (and perhaps located) in the galaxy far, far away, it is sensible to ask if that same god is known to some of the galaxy's inhabitants in some form or another.


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Does the concept of the Abrahamic god of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam exist (in any form, or to any degree) in the galaxy far, far away?


Note 1: I don't think this is addressed in the movies, and although I would prefer a canonical answer, Legends will do, if nothing else is available. However, the Star Wars Holiday Special is not an acceptable source.


Note 2: The substance of this question is fundamentally different from "Do Heaven and Hell exist in Star Wars", because that question and its answers don't address the Abrammic god in any way.



Answer






  • First, let's address the evidence presented in the form of Han using the word "HELL":




    1. First of all, Star Wars using a specific Earth word is not an indication that the thing it refers to has Earth origin. E.g. see "ducks".




    2. OP's out of universe statement that "HELL" is a "Abrahamic" thing is wrong on two levels. You managed to commit BOTH a Type 1 and Type 2 error.





      • Judaism, at least in its early form, had NO concept of Hell, at least in the form even remotely close to a Christian concept. This issue doesn't majorly impact the conclusion of the answer, but I feel is important to note as background.




      • Secondly, (and more important) Hell as a concept is in no way unique to Abrahamic religions - see Ancient Greek Tartarus (NOT Hades, but even Hades had special regions for punishment of the souls of deservingly bad people. For an uber-random example, recall Sisyphus and Tantalus).






    3. Moreover, we have "Seven Corellian Hells" mentioned in canon, which means Han was FAR more likely to refer to that than to a Christian "Hell". Occam's Razor demands it.







  • Canon analysis


    Outside of OP-excluded Christmas Special which had no "Christmas", or decidedly non-canon "Christmas in the Stars" :), I have never seen any canon (down to C-canon) mention of Earth Abrahamic faiths in TGFFA.


    This is confirmed by searching Wookiepedia for basic religious terms and finding nothing in-universe: Moses, Commandments, Torah, Judaism for Judaism. The closest you get is Aing-Tii monks' ship named "Sanhedrim", and they most assuredly were not theologically OR biologically Jewish.


    Similarly, Wookiepedia has no mention of "Jesus" or "Christian" or "Trinity" or "baptism" that's in-universe. Admittedly, I didn't check Islam, for lack of knowing which core terms to search for outside "Mohammed".




  • UPDATE: As per an Easter Egg, while Abrahamic faiths may not exist, their artifacts apparently might: Han Solo's freighter, Eravana, is strongly implied to carry The Ark of the Covenant that Indiana Jones was last seen storing in US Government warehouse.





    • While it's fair to ask if that implies that the belief in the contents of that religion also exists, the answer is "absolutely doesn't necessarily imply". If you recall Indiana Jones, the OTHER person who was interested in the Ark of the Covenant was none other than der Führer. Who most certainly can be assumed NOT to believe in the contents of Judaism - the religion which centers around the Covenant.




    • However, it does mean that possibly, some collector wanted the Ark as a powerful, or simply rare, artifact - which Han's freighter is choke full of, as per Visual Dictionary - which in turn means they MAY be familiar with the tenets of the religion involved, as that religion holds the explanation for why the artefact matters and has power. However, that isn't proven conclusively and remains a firm "maybe".







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