Gorse Gorse ( ) was a tidally - locked planet located on the Inner Rim . It had one moon called Cynda , which was rich in thorilide crystals . During the Age of the Empire , Gorse had seemingly exhausted its thorilide reserves and had become a major refinery for thorilide exports from Cynda , which had been opened up to thorilide mining . Gorse served as the location of a conflict between the Galactic Empire and a small rebel cell led by Hera Syndulla and the former Jedi Padawan Kanan Jarrus . Following the Gorse conflict , thorilide mining was established in Gorse ' s sunward side while Cynda was restored to its former status as a nature reserve . Description . Closely orbiting its nearby star , Gorse was a rare example of a tidally locked planet . Gravitational forces of its star and its moon , Cynda , caused one side of the planet to permanently face its sun while the opposite side of the planet was stuck in perpetual darkness . As a result , the hemisphere of Gorse that baked in constant daylight experienced temperatures hot enough to melt droid s . Only the humid night side of the planet was habitable . The planet suffered from constant groundquake s due to its strange gravitational state . Cities covered much of the dark side of Gorse . There , thorilide crystal s imported from Cynda were refined and processed for use in shielding starship s from turbolaser cannons . Many of those working in this industry were housed at Crispus Commons , an apartment building for veterans of the Clone Wars . Gorse had several urban settlements including Gorse City , Shaketown , and Highground . History . The Galactic Republic . During the last years of the Galactic Republic , Gorse was home to many thorilide mining operations . While visiting Gorse for a work trip , the mining inspector Lemuel Tharsa succumbed to Shilmer ' s syndrome , a painful debilitating disease that devoured his flesh and limb s . After being outfitted with a cyborg body , Tharsa rebuilt himself as the business guru Denetrius Vidian . Purchasing a secret stake in the comet - chasing company Minerax Consulting , Vidian issued a critical report claiming that Gorse had exhausted its thorilide reserves . As a result , surface mining companies like Introsphere went bust and the other remaining mining companies were forced to relocate their operations to Gorse ' s moon Cynda , which was rich in thorilide . During the Clone Wars , the Gorsian demolitions expert Skelly served in the Grand Army of the Republic . The Republic built a housing project called Crispus Commons in Gorse City to accommodate Skelly and other homeless Clone Wars veterans . The Republic ' s successor government , the Galactic Empire , paid little attention to Crispus Commons and allowed it deteriorate into disrepair . Galactic Empire . The Gorse conflict . Due to the rapid expansion of the Imperial Navy , Gorse struggled to keep up with the high Imperial demand for thorilide . In response , Emperor Palpatine dispatched his management consultant Count Vidian to increase production output in the Gorse system . After purging the mining workforce on Cynda of trouble - makers and the elderly , Vidian turned his attention to Gorse . While he had originally plan to correspond with the local mining industrial chiefs via hologram , Vidian changed his mind after a rogue miner named Skelly was captured by Moonglow Polychemical , who were based in Gorse ' s Shaketown . Skelly had made threats against the Empire , resisted arrest , and conducted an illegal test bombing . In addition , Count Vidian destroyed the medcenter in Gorse City where he had been treated for Shilmer ' s disease in order to conceal evidence he and Lemuel were the same person . Officially , Lemuel was still listed in the Imperial official records as an independent mining consultant . Vidian used the pseudonym Lemuel to author fake reports that boosted his business interests . In addition , Vidian ordered a review of Transcept Media Solutions , the company that operated the security cameras that caught Skelly ' s sedition . As a result of the crackdown , the surveillance operator Hetto was arrested for corresponding with a known rebel operative on HoloNet named Hera Syndulla . Before the Empire could take Skelly into custody , Hera freed Skelly from Moonglow custody with the help of a local criminal gang called the Sarlaccs . When the Sarlaccs demanded a pay hike and attempted to rob Hera , a local freighter pilot named Kanan Jarrus came to her aid . Kanan was a former Jedi Padawan who had survived the Jedi Purge and recently immigrated to Gorse . Later , Hera attempted to recruit Skelly into the rebellion but the miner was only interested in saving Cynda from destruction . Hera then went on to meet with her local contact Hetto at a local cantina called The Asteroid Belt . There , she met Hetto ' s friend Zaluna Myder who informed her that Hetto had been arrested by the Empire as part of Vidian ' s crackdown . After learning of Vidian ' s planned inspection of Moonglow from Skelly , Hera managed to convince her local friend Kanan to lend her his Moonglow ID card . The two rebels infiltrated the refinery in a hoverbus and Hera attempted to tail Vidian . Meanwhile , Skelly infiltrated the Moonglow refinery in attempt to convince Vidian to end all mining operations on Cynda . He even passed a holodisk containing his research but the Count tried to kill him . Despite being badly wounded , Skelly managed to escape into the factory ' s conveyor belt system . Later , Vidian murdered Moonglow ' s chief operations officer Lal Grallik after learning from his rival Baron Lero Danthe that the Emperor had tripled Gorse ' s thorilide output . Lal informed him that Moonglow could not meet the Emperor ' s new quota . Using Skelly ' s research , Vidian put into motion a plan to destroy Gorse ' s moon Cynda in order to meet the Emperor ' s new quota . Before he could return to Captain Rae Sloane ' s Imperial Star Destroyer " Ultimatum " , Vidian was attacked by Skelly , who blew up his shuttle . Vidian and his surviving entourage including Captain Rae commandeered the hoverbus and traveled to the spaceport at Highpoint . Skelly followed Vidian to the spaceport and blew up the second Imperial shuttle . Vidian ' s problems were complicated by the arrival of Lal ' s vengeful husband Gord Grallik , who was seeking vengeance for his wife ' s murder . Gord managed to kill several stormtrooper s before being killed by Vidian himself . Skelly along with Hera and Kanan then took the opportunity to escape in the hoverbus . Vidian and Sloane dispatched several Imperial Troop Transport s and two TIE fighters after them but the rebels managed to evade capture and dumped their hoverbus in a quarry . Hera , Kanan , and Skelly were joined by Zaluna , who had accidentally stowed aboard the hoverbus ' toilet . Using Skelly ' s research , Count Vidian convinced Captain Sloane and her science officer Lieutenant Deltic to conduct a test bombing on Cynda to back his theory that his detonation of the moon would not destroy its thorilide crystals . Under Vidian ' s orders , stormtroopers conducted a test bombing which killed many miners on Cynda . The explosion was witnessed by many on Cynda including Hera , Kanan , Skelly , and Zaluna . In response , the rebels formed an informal cell to stop Vidian ' s plot . While the original reports indicated that a detonation would degrade the thorilide crystals , Vidian used his phantom consultant Lemuel to produce a false report stating otherwise . Due to his stake in the comet - chaser industry , Vidian wanted the comet - chasers to exploit Cynda ' s thorilide crystals before they disintegrated . He also wanted to discredit his rival Baron Danthe . Satisfied , Captain Sloane acceded to Vidian ' s plan . The Imperials did not care that Cynda ' s destruction could have catastrophic ramifications for Gorse . Count Vidian ordered all empty mining cargo ships in the Gorse system to follow the " Ultimatum " to his depot in the Calcoraan system . To cover up his true plan , Imperial media like Imperial HoloNews claimed that Moonglow ' s negligence had caused the explosion on Cynda and that Vidian was leading a " heroic effort " to stabilize the moon . As a result , the Empire seized the company ' s assets . Vidian ' s plot was foiled by the combined efforts of Hera , Skelly , Kanan , and Zaluna . After learning about Vidian ' s deception , Kanan passed the original results to Captain Sloane while claiming to be an " agent " of the Emperor . Sloane dispatched the original results to Baron Danthe , who forwarded them to the Emperor . As a result , the Emperor terminated Vidian ' s project and Sloane issued orders to suspend the planned detonation and to arrest Vidian . When Vidian defied her and expressed his intention to proceed with the detonation , Captain Sloane ordered the Imperial fleet to bombard Vidian ' s flagship " Forager " . While the other rebels escaped , Skelly sacrificed his own life to kill Vidian ; effectively saving Cynda from destruction . Baron Danthe . Following Count Vidian ' s death , the Galactic Empire shifted all thorilide mining operations in the Gorse system to the planet Gorse ; with Cynda being restored to its status as a nature reserve and tourist destination . Vidian ' s rival Baron Danthe gained control of the thorilide industry in the system and opened up the planet ' s sunward side to mining . Due to the dangerous conditions there , this mining was carried out by Baron Danthe ' s heat - resistant mining drone s . Gorse ' s refineries received a new lease of life due to the thorilide mining in the planet ' s sunward side . Due to her efforts in stopping Vidian , Sloan was given permanent Captaincy of the " Ultimatum " . Society and culture . Gorse was home to various sentient species including human s , Sullustan s , Besalisk s , and Twi ' lek s . Since Gorse ' s nightward side never experience any daylight , time on the planet ran in diurnal cycles . Gorse was home to large refining industry which included companies such as Moonglow Polychemical . In addition , other industries operating on Gorse including the media company Transcept Media Solutions and its surveillance division Myder ' s Mynocks , Okadiah Garson ' s cantina The Asteroid Belt , and two spaceports ( including one owned by Moonglow ) . Behind the scenes . Gorse first appeared in " A New Dawn " , a canon novel written by John Jackson Miller . The author chose the name " Gorse " for its rhyme with " coarse . "