Hoth / Legends Hoth was the sixth planet of the remote Hoth system . A desolate world covered with ice and snow , located in the Anoat sector , a rarely - traveled portion of the Outer Rim Territories , it became famous as the one - time location of the Alliance to Restore the Republic ' s Echo Base during the Galactic Civil War . The base was discovered by the Empire in 3 ABY , precipitating the Battle of Hoth , a major engagement during which the Rebels suffered heavy casualties and lost Echo Base . Description . Located on the fringe of the Ivax Nebula in the Anoat sector of the Greater Javin along the Ison Corridor , Hoth orbited the blue - white star Hoth on a wide elliptical orbit . Beyond Hoth was voluminous band of planetesimals , known as the Hoth asteroid field , from which small asteroids regularly broke off , crashing onto Hoth ' s surface as meteorites . The planet was the sixth in the Hoth system . The planet consisted of a molten metallic core with dichotomous crust . Its surface was entirely covered by a frozen ocean , except where volcanic fissures opened up steam vents , depositing rock and minerals in darker patches on the glacier plains . A few mountain ranges pierced the permanent ice shelves , some being geologically active . The tidal pull of Hoth ' s three nameless moons caused fissures in the ice - layers , sending jets of ocean water into the freezing Hoth air . The intense cold froze these jets into spires of ice , suspending primitive ocean algae within these tall columns and glaciers . Massive oceanic currents beneath the southern hemisphere caused regular seismic activity , resulting in a constantly shifting landscape of caves and tunnels . Buried deep in Hoth ' s equatorial region was a fissure , reaching hundreds of meters towards the core of the planet . In this area never exposed to Hoth ' s blue - white sun was a cache of lumni - spice , a rare fungal growth . Its orbit and axial tilt resulted in consistently icy weather patterns . Daytime temperatures reached levels unbearable to most species and rarely rose above freezing , even in the planet ' s relatively mild equatorial regions . The gale force winds and intense snowstorms that regularly wracked the windswept surface magnified the extreme cold of Hoth . The frigid biosphere included a minimal food chain : the predatory wampas , the omnivorous tauntauns , the herbivorous Hoth hog s , a few rodent species , including snowmice and ice scrabbler s , and iceworm s , lichens , and Dragon slug s . The average planetary temperature was around - 61 ºC ; however at Echo Base , located near the planet ' s equator in the northern hemisphere , daytime temperatures could reach - 32ºC ; however night - time temperatures got as low as - 60ºC . History . Infinite Empire . Hoth appears to have been part of the Infinite Empire in a long forgotten past as evidenced by the existence of Rakatan steles on the ice planet . Indeed during the Cold War , a Jedi Consular looking for the prison of the Esh - kha , discovered in a cave an holographic artifact designed by Rakatas who provided the coordinates of the planet Belsavis . Old Republic . Hoth ' s existence was known throughout the galaxy as early as 4000 BBY . Indeed the Republic suffered a major defeat at the hands of the Sith Empire during the Great Galactic War . The two fleets included some of the most advanced warships available , and the Republic lost several valuable prototype vessels in the engagement . The battle showered the planet ' s surface with hundreds of shipwrecks , but neither side possessed the resources to recover them . By the time of the Cold War , pirates began efforts to salvage the wreckage , but their efforts were contested with the onset of competing efforts by the Republic and Empire . Also , around the Great Galactic War , a group of Ortolans tried to colonize the planet , building thermal power stations in order to better survive the harsh environmental conditions of the icy world . Hoth again became a battlefield in the New Sith Wars , During that conflict , a battle occurred between Jedi and Sith forces on the ice world . Galactic Civil War . The planet was not entirely unknown to the galaxy at large . The trans - system data storage library on the planet Halowan contained a substantial amount of information concerning the Hoth system and the planet ' s geography . While still relatively unknown , the planet was a destination for ice - boarding and hover - skiing enthusiasts , who could visit Hoth traveling with Star Tours . Hoth was occasionally visited by pirates and smugglers who took advantage of its remote location , using the ice planet as a base . Even prior to his inclusion with the Rebellion , Han Solo was already familiar with Hoth from his days as a smuggler . The Mon Calamari smuggler Salmakk and his crew used one of Hoth ' s ice caverns as a base for several years prior to the Alliance ' s presence there . He and his group were chased away from Hoth by Solo after failing to capture him , hoping to collect the bounty placed on his head by Jabba the Hutt . The smuggler Raskar , leader of the Pirates of Iridium , attempted to seize a valuable cache of lumni - spice before the Alliance settled on Hoth , but was chased off by a dragon slug . A group of failed stormtroopers attempted to start a hunting business there , but were all supposedly killed by a group of wampas . Around the time of the Battle of Tatooine and the destruction of the Anchorhead Base , a small team of Rebels established Gamma Base on Hoth , joined by Rookie One . However the location was discovered by Imperial Intelligence employing Viper probe droids . This resulted in a battle involving AT - AT walkers and T - 47 airspeeders in a remarkable foreshadowing of events to come at the Battle of Hoth three years later . The Rebels fought valiantly but eventually had to evacuate the base and the planet . Joining up with Ru Murleen ' s group , Rookie One fought waves of TIE fighters until they safely jumped out of the system for Yavin Prime . After a mission on Aridus during the Blockade of Yavin , Lieutenant Commander Luke Skywalker with C - 3PO made a daring escape through the Imperial blockade of Yavin 4 , plunging his ship into the vapor - trail of a transdimensional cometary body . His starship was caught in the hyperstream of the comet , and was dragged to the Hoth system . Skywalker was saved from certain death after being trapped in a Hoth blizzard by a young woman named Frija Torlock . Skywalker was given sanctuary by the woman ' s father , Lexhannen Torlock , an Imperial governor . However , he soon learned that the two were in actuality human replica droid s of the real Torlocks , hiding from the Empire on Hoth . Fearful of organic beings , the elder Torlock intended to kill Skywalker . However , in the attempt , he accidentally shot and destroyed his daughter . He was then cut down by the young Jedi ' s lightsaber . Skywalker and C - 3PO managed to escape the planet after sending a transmission , answered by Han Solo aboard the " Millennium Falcon " . He later recommended Hoth to Alliance High Command as a possible relocation site . The Habassa also hinted to the Rebellion the Hoth system as a possible candidate for relocation . The Rebellion ' s first official involvement on Hoth came in 1 ABY when Alliance High Command agreed to use the planet as their headquarters . The Alliance Corps of Engineers , under the command of Major Kem Monnon and supervised by Major Bren Derlin , descended on the ice planet to begin construction of High Command ' s new base of operations . Monnon ' s engineers took over the remains of the caverns once used by Salmakk for his smuggling operation , expanding the facilities considerably . The base was built in the northern hemisphere on the only livable temperate band near the equator . Construction on the new Echo Base was completed in 2 ABY . Aside from its remote location and near unbearable temperatures making it an unlikely candidate for Imperial probing , Hoth was an ideal location because of the asteroid belt that surrounded the system , providing a difficult barrier for approaching ships . Additionally , the ever shifting caverns meant that it would be easy to move the base within the planet . The Rebellion operated out of Echo Base for about one year before it was discovered by the Empire in 3 ABY . An Arakyd Viper probe droid , launched to Hoth from the " Imperial II " - class Star Destroyer " Stalker " , attached to Darth Vader ' s Death Squadron , reported the location of the base to the Imperial Navy . Vader and his fleet of Star Destroyers soon arrived in Hoth ' s orbit , deploying a large invasion force to the planet ' s surface . The Battle of Hoth ensued between the two forces , resulting in a crushing Rebel defeat . Those Rebels lucky enough to survive the battle evacuated the planet . The debris of the battlefield attracted the scavenger Arns Grimraker . During the battle , a group of eighteen Rebels deemed most valuable to the Alliance ' s cause jettisoned from the disabled GR - 75 medium transport " Bright Hope " back to Hoth ' s surface aboard an escape pod . They were forced to survive on Hoth for more than a month before a rescue party led by Commander Toryn Farr was dispatched to recover them . After the ground battle in 3 ABY , Hoth returned to a world of obscurity , visited mostly by poachers , smugglers , xenobiologist s , and the occasional tourist . The Empire captured numerous wampas and from their base stock bioengineered the cliff wampa s which the Imperials used to guard their facilities on Gall . An Imperial Correctional Center was established on the planet , which became known for its harsh conditions ; it was said no inmate survived more than three years there before freezing to death . In 5 ABY , the imposter of Kadann sentenced Grand Moff Dunhausen to four years imprisonment at the Center . By 4 . 3 ABY , the interstellar travel agency Star Tours had planned for a family getaway vacation deal to Hoth . Kyle Katarn and Jaden Korr later located an Empire Reborn base on the planet . In 12 ABY Luke Skywalker and Callista Ming visited the planet to attempt to regain Callista ' s Force powers . They encountered a group of smugglers who were hunting wampas for their valuable pelts . Luke happened to come across One - Arm , the wampa that captured him prior to the Battle of Hoth . The two Jedi barely escaped from the savage wampas . Due to overhunting , both the tauntaun and the wampa became endangered . Under the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances , the Senate passed legislation protecting the wampa . Similar legislation was proposed for the tauntauns . Behind the scenes . There is some controversy on how the Rebels discovered Hoth . One source says that Luke found it by chance while escaping an Imperial pursuit , another claims that Han knew the planet ' s location and suggested it to the Alliance and says that the Habassa aliens proposed its location to the Rebellion after they allied and the Rebels protected them against Imperial attacks . It is supposed that the Habassa only proposed the system as a candidate location , and the planet itself was discovered by Luke , after the system was already known . The Star Wars 3 - D version is not compatible with any of the others . The real - world locations for Hoth are in Finse , Norway . Several sources mention tundras on Hoth , however one has never been depicted . Most depictions are of icy plains with no vegetation whatsoever . Tundras have many varieties of low vegetation such as grasses . The PC game " " mistakenly places Hoth in the Churba sector , which is actually located in the Mid Rim . " " mistakenly claims that the Rebels believed no other species existed on Hoth besides the wampas and tauntauns . Hoth ' s Holonet entry on the " " website has five hidden Aurebesh phrases : " Icy Graveyard ; " " Watch out for wampas ; " " Umbra Encrypter ; " " Chiss secret base ; " and " Captain Valon . " Hoth also appeared in the Japanese Star Wars 1987 video game , although there was some debate as to whether the planet was intended to be Hoth . In addition , some unofficial translations to the game , as well as the Katakana for the planet , referred to the planet as " Tina . " Jason Fry , in an email stated that they generally treat the planet as if it were Hoth . The location around and above Echo Base serves as a location for multiple Versus Mode matches in " " .