Stone Needle/Legends

The Stone Needle, otherwise known as the Eye of the Needle,Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire novel was a 60 meter tall rock formation in Beggar's Canyon on Tatooine.Star Wars Technical Journal The formation was a tall stone tower with a "loop" rock on top of it situated in the middle of a ditch. The loop, lined with jagged rock teeth, was just large enough to allow small repulsorcraft to pass through. Early explorers speculated that the rock formation had been carved by extinct, native Tatooine beings, but no evidence to substantiate this theory was ever found.
==History==
Swoop bikers showed off their piloting skills by "threading the needle," or flying their swoops through the loop, a maneuver that required high speeds.
Luke Skywalker and his friends would often pilot their T-16 skyhoppers through the Stone Needle while growing up on Tatooine. Days before the death of his aunt and uncle, Skywalker challenged his friend Fixer through the bottleneck. With another of his friends, Windy Marstrap, riding along with him, Skywalker beat Fixer through the loop. Frightened by Skywalker's near-suicidal maneuvering, Windy squealed through the whole race. Skywalker later admitted to himself that he brought Windy along to prove to him that he was cut out for more than the simple life of a moisture farmer. Luke's success piloting through the Stone Needle convinced him that he was Imperial Academy material.Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice
A year after the Battle of Yavin, Skywalker led several members of Rogue Squadron on a leisure run through Beggar's Canyon, introducing them to the Needle.Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Years later in 3 ABY, Skywalker evaded a group of assassins hired by Prince Xizor by leading them on a swoop chase through Beggar's Canyon, and finally through the Eye of the Needle. Skywalker survived the maneuver, as he had many times before, unlike his final pursuer, who crashed into the needle and died in the fiery blaze.
==Appearances==
*Star Wars: Episode I Racer
*Empire 8 
* 
*Luke's Fate
*Star Wars Journal: The Fight for Justice
*Rebel Force: Renegade
*Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
*Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire novel
*Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire abridged audiobook
*Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire video game
*Shadows of the Empire 3
*
*A New Hope: The Life of Luke Skywalker 
==Sources==
==Notes and references==
Category:Beggar's Canyon locations
Category:Rock formations