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- "We were climbing the canyon wall, the same as you, and I had just noticed the slugs. I don’t think Josk sensed them. I tried to warn him, but it was too late. He put his spike through one of them, and then lost a handhold and reached for what seemed to be a regular hole in the rock. A flock of birds flew out and attacked him. They were biting him, and he let go to try to protect his face. [...] He pushed away from the wall and just…fell."
- ―Iskat Akaris, to Tualon Yaluna
Climbing spikes, or climbing claws, were tools that helped the user in ascending a vertical wall by penetrating and gripping the its side. The spikes could be worn in single pairs or sets of pairs over gloves and boots on the hands and feet; pushing one set of spikes into the wall allowed a user to remain stable while using the other set to reach for the next point in their journey up or down an obstacle. The spikes could also be used to generally improve a user's control of movement over unsteady and dangerous terrain, such as the cliffs the Scyre territory on the planet Parnassos.[1]
In 22 BBY, during a mission to the the planet Thule, Jedi Knights Josk Nivar, Iskat Akaris and used climbing spikes on their boots to scale one wall of a canyon while Akaris' friend and fellow Knight Tualon Yaluna climbed the far side. As they were climbing, Akaris noted to herself that the wall had plenty of nooks to serve as footholds and thus thought she didn't really need the spikes on her boots. She also observed a number of slugs on the wall, feeding on the rock and attempted to caution Nivar to avoid them lest he pierce one.[2]
However, before he could understand her warning, one of Nivar's boot spikes did indeed impale a slug, which broke the spike's grip on the rock. When Nivar attempted to get a fingerhold on a hole in the rock, he roused a flock of birds housed therein, which flew out and attacked his face. Nivar instinctively raised his hands to shield himself and thus lost any remaining hold on the wall, falling to his death. Akaris and Yaluna were ultimately able to reach the top and climb back down later, with the former warning the latter to avoid the slugs and nesting holes lest he suffer the same fate as Nivar. Two year later, when reunited with Yaluna on another mission, at his request for a more detailed account then she had given in their report, Akaris explained what had happened with the climbing spikes that had led to Nivar's death, adding that Nivar had pushed away from the wall.[2]
In 14 BBY, during the Imperial Era, Jedi survivor Cal Kestis acquired climbing claws from a fallen Nightbrother while fending off the fearsome Gorgara on a mission to Dathomir. He used the claws to climb up certain rock faces best suited for them on various planets, but not before soon having to use them very quickly to evade another assault from the resurging Gorgara, which then seized him and flew up to the sky for a final, fatal confrontation.[3]
Behind the scenes[]
Climbing spikes first appeared in Delilah S. Dawson's novel Phasma, which was published on September 1, 2017; they were also identified in the text as climbing claws.[1] Climbing spikes were first depicted in the third issue of the Captain Phasma comic, published on October 4, 2017, in a flashback to a scene from the novel.[4] Climbing spikes also appeared in Dawson's 2023 novel Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade.[2]
Appearances[]
- Inquisitor: Rise of the Red Blade (and audiobook)
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
- Phasma (and audiobook) (First appearance)
- Captain Phasma 3
