Most Star Wars scenes or acts in canon lore are easy enough to predict depending on their location. If it's in the Republic or Empire territories (Core Worlds), it's usually a political tangle. Meanwhile, Outer Rim scenes are fraught with betrayals, daylight murder, and all kinds of criminal activity. It's the Wild West of Star Wars mythos, as depicted in The Mandalorian and other titles.
It's an area of the galaxy that's supposedly out of government jurisdiction, making it a lawless region. Still, the Star Wars shows don't exactly do the Outer Rim much justice apart from establishing shots and dialog implications. The Outer Rim could be much more than a dangerous backdrop in Star Wars if viewers knew more about it, starting with these lesser-known facts.
8 It's The Third World In The Star Wars Mythos
Despite being devoid of proper and functioning governments, the Outer Rim territories in Star Wars aren't that fundamentally barren. Many of the planets in the Outer Rim are brimming with natural resources that fetch a high price in Star Wars' black markets, and some of these resources even find themselves as luxuries in the Core World territories.
It's fair to say that the citizens of the Outer Rim don't benefit from their own natural resources since they're being wrestled by gangs and the space cartels of Star Wars looking to get rich through dubious means. What's keeping the Outer Rim poor is its loose collection of warring independent crime organizations and pirates, as well as the demand for their resources from the Core Worlds. More on that later.
7 It's Where The Sith Came From
The Sith homeworld of Moraband is located on the Outer Rim. It's also more popularly known as Korriban, and it houses the great Valley of the Dark Lords. It's mostly desolate and abandoned now after countless wars from ancient times, but the Dark Side of the Force lingers on the planet despite its state.
For the most part, however, Korriban is safe. Yoda even ventured there before the Clone Wars in order to complete some kind of spiritual journey. Like many planets on the Outer Rim, Korriban was also once a lush and fertile landscape, but its Sith conquerors transformed it into a wasteland.
6 Not All Planets Were Harsh
Speaking of wastelands, most viewers get the impression that Outer Rim planets and territories are barren death traps thanks to locales like Tatooine, which is Star Wars' favorite planet. However, even Tatooine was once a lush world with oceans and rainforests. It was unknown when it became a desert planet.
And then, there are planets like Endor and Dagobah which had the potential for supporting human life. Meanwhile, planets like Mandalore and Mustafar were once garden worlds, home to healthy jungles and grasslands. But of course, the Outer Rim territories and planets' fates were up to their rulers, seeing as there's no higher authority to keep them in check. Hence, prolonged wars and industrial or amoral experiments destroyed some of these notable planets.
5 The Republic Tried To Help
If the Outer Rim was so troubled, how come the Galactic Republic (during their heyday) didn't lend a helping hand? Well, they did. As was featured in the High Republic books, the Republic at the height of its Golden Age, intervened in the Outer Rim's affairs, seemingly to bring order to the lawless place.
They were immediately met with resistance and an insistent hostility from the Outer World cartels. Additionally, sending peacekeepers to the Outer Rim was a logistical nightmare due to the poorer hyperspace lanes, or hyperlanes. Most of the established hyperlanes belonged in the Core Worlds, and without them, ship travel would take too long for mortal lifespans.
4 The Republic Also Exploited The Outer Rim
That isn't to say the Republic left the Outer Rim alone after seeing that they couldn't tame it. Shows like Andor shone some light on how the Galactic Republic wasn't innocent at all. Andor's flashbacks back to when he was a child in his homeworld of Kenari (which lies on the Outer Rim) painted the Republic in a different light.
During the Clone Wars and the later years of the Republic, Republic ships as well as mining operations could be seen in expansion territories leading up to Outer Rim. By the size of the mines, it appears the Republic had been carrying out the operation much earlier in the timeline, and this kind of practice likely contributed to the legitimacy of the Separatist movement.
3 It's Where Most Jedi Fled After Order 66
The funny thing about the Jedi Order is that most of them would find their refuge in the Outer Rim territories after lording over Coruscant during the Galactic Republic days. It was all thanks to the Empire's takeover and the infamous Order 66, which wiped out most of the Jedi in the Core Worlds.
Those who wanted to survive had to flee to the very systems and planets that their Republic neglected and exploited years prior. Obi-Wan fled to Tatooine, Yoda fled to Dagobah, Cal Kestis kept jumping around on Outer Rim planets, and even the budding Jedi in Star Wars Rebels had to make themselves at home on the Outer Rim to avoid the Jedi genocide.
2 It's Where Darth Maul Came From
Darth Maul, one of the most notable Sith Lords due to his design, was from a race of aliens called the Zabrak and their homeworld is on the planet of Dathomir. It's similar to Korriban, where the natives are more predisposed to turning to the Dark Side of the Force due to their religion and the Dark Side's inherent presence.
It was actually a matriarchal society where the female shamans called the Nightsisters wielded some kind of magical abilities and kept the male population as breeding partners. In a sense, they're like the budding Sith Lords or Sith repositories of Star Wars seeing as Korriban wiped itself out.
1 The Outer Rim Is Mostly Uncharted
As mentioned earlier, one of the reasons why the Republic didn't bother extending its "help" to the Outer Rim territories was the lack of hyperspace lanes. These are practically highways or railways that allowed ships to travel at what regular engine speed would take decades or maybe even centuries, perhaps longer.
So charting the Outer Rim and setting up hyperspace lanes mean requiring generations of space explorers and nigh-unlimited resources. It could also mean there's plenty more to discover in the Star Wars universe just lying in wait on the Outer Rim. Too bad they keep ignoring that untapped fiction gold mine with their fixation on desert planets.