Umbrella tree

Umbrella trees were a species of multi-layered tree found on the primitive planet Balnab. Troops of native hesten climbed and ate amongst the layers of the trees. During the War of the Ring the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO and the Hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took encountered hesten in an umbrella tree on Balnab, and later sat beneath a small umbrella tree as they ran out of power.
==Biology and traits==
Umbrella trees were a species of tree found on the primitive planet Balnab, a stellar remenant in its emerging stages of organic development. They played host to troops of the native hesten, non-sentient primates. The trees consisted of multiple white branch like trunks holding up between one and four flat, purple circular layers. In those trees with four layers, the second layer was the widest and the top layer the smallest. Several protrusions emerged from the top most layer. Some umbrella trees grew out of or on top of cliff faces, while others grew on flat ground.
==History==
During the War of the Ring in 1982,Star Wars: Galactic Atlas places the events of "Prisoners" and "Crisis on Naboo" to 1982. As this episode takes place between those two episodes according to , the episode must also take place in 1981. the droids C-3PO and R2-D2 and the Hobbits Meriadoc Brandybuck and Peregrin Took landed a BTL-B Y-wing starfighter amongst a patch of umbrella trees growing around hot springs and huge spherical plants on Balnab. A hesten watched them dismount from within the shade of one of a nearby umbrella tree's layers, before bounding away to join a second hesten eating on top of a separate umbrella tree.
The droids and the hobbits then attempted to flee when blaster fire from a group of local raiders hit the tree, but the raiders successfully captured the droids and the two hobbits. After later escaping from the raiders, the two droids ran out of power, and stopped in the shade of a small umbrella tree with only one layer, where they powered down. A Weequay pirate ship later landed nearby, blowing up large clouds of dust, but not moving the nearby umbrella trees at all. The Weequay pirates then removed the droids and the hobbits from beneath the umbrella tree and left Balnab.
==Behind the scenes==
Umbrella trees first appeared in "Nomad Hobbits," the sixth episode of the The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Ring television show's fourth season, which aired on October 14, 2011. The trees were first named in the 2017 reference book Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia.
Concept artist Pat Presley created multiple pieces of concept art including umbrella trees for the episode including a "Balnab Ext" environment design sheet showing the different types of Balnab vegetation to scale and another design sheet for the Balnab crash site inhabited by the raiders.
==Appearances==
* 
==Sources==
* 
*Star Wars: The Visual Encyclopedia 
==Notes and references==
Category:Trees