I love those flying disks in the senate of The Galactic Republic. How many disks were there? I googled, but without luck. A link says it 10000, but without citation. Is this ever mentioned in a book or other media?
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41024, according to Wookieepedia, but that's also not sourced – Jason Baker Apr 01 '15 at 17:44
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@JasonBaker - That's the number in the (canon) Ultimate Star Wars book – Valorum Feb 25 '18 at 16:22
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We don't know. Sources are conflicted as to how many there were.
The best source I can find for a canon answer is the Databank article on the Galactic Senate, which simply says that there were "hundreds of politicians". By visual inspection, there do appear to be hundreds (perhaps thousands) of repulsorpods (I count about 20 in the part of the lowest row that is visible):
Moving to a pseudo-canon source, the Episode III novelization mentions the Delegation of 2,000, which was a group of senators who opposed Palpatine (the Delegation was also shown in a deleted scene from Episode III). Since the Jedi allege Palpatine has control of the Senate, these 2,000 senators are likely in the minority -- meaning there are possibly 10,000 senators in total. Presumably, each of these senators had their own repulsorpod.
Some sources, including Wookieepedia and Wikipedia, claim that there were exactly 1,024 repulsorpods. Neither source points to a source with that number -- Wikipedia links to the Databank article mentioned above, but that Databank article does not include the exact number. The number is probably based on the number of sectors that made up the Republic at the time of the Ruusan Reformation (Legends). The Ruusan Reformation Wookieepedia article in turn appears to get its number of 1,024 sectors from the Legends "Sector" article, which cites the Legends Star Wars: Attack of the Clones Incredible Cross-Sections reference book.
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Well, we know that each system had its own delegation - and therefore pod - but some systems may have had more than one delegation. Mon Calamari, for instance, would have separate delegations for the Mon Calamari and the Quarren. It can be assumed other systems might have similar divisions. – Omegacron Apr 01 '15 at 20:34
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@Omegacron How many systems are there in the Galaxy far far away? This number can be used for estimation of the seats. – user931 Apr 02 '15 at 09:45
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Providing The Galactic Republic was dominant, 1000 or 10000 seats couldn't handle the Galaxy.. http://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/85377/931 – user931 Apr 02 '15 at 11:53
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@SS-3.1415926535897932384626433 The Republic is divided into sectors, with each sector comprising multiple star systems. There is one senator per sector. It's still possible that there are 1,000-10,000 senators. And of course not every habitable star system is a member of the Republic -- the Republic didn't even know about the existence of Kamino. – Null Apr 02 '15 at 13:32
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@Null You are going in opposite direction.. There were more than one senators from some star systems. I never heard of senators of sectors. BTW, Kamino was removed from data banks, so it's not a good example. – user931 Apr 02 '15 at 13:52
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@SS-3.1415926535897932384626433 From the "sector" article I linked to: "When the Galactic Empire took control of the Republic's sectors, Moffs replaced senators as sectorial governors." Some of the more important planets and star systems had their own senators, but the whole point of dividing the galaxy into sectors was to make galactic governance more manageable (a Senate of a billion senators would get nothing done). And, going back to the original question, how would you fit a billion repulsorpods into one building?! – Null Apr 02 '15 at 14:07
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@SS-3.1415926535897932384626433 Ultimately the problem is that we're dealing with a bunch of poorly sourced and poorly thought out numbers -- a billion habitable star systems, a delegation of 2000 senators, 1,024 sectors, etc. The bottom line is that we just don't know and we can only make educated but wild guesses. – Null Apr 02 '15 at 14:08
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@MichaelItzoe I think she became a senator after the Kaminoans started supplying clones for the GAR, at which point the Republic was obviously aware of Kamino. The Republic as a whole was unaware of Kamino until Episode II. – Null Apr 02 '15 at 14:19
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The "sector" designation is odd given that on-screen, every time a senator is referred to, it's at the planet level (i.e. "Senator of Naboo", "Senator of Alderaan"). Of course, the Trade Federation had their own pod & delegation, but how many planets/sectors did they represent? Or any? Perhaps they just represented the organization? As @Null said, the problem is inconsistency & lack of reliable sources. – Omegacron Apr 02 '15 at 14:45
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2@Omegacron The Trade Federation point is a good one and another source of inconsistency. And to make it all the more confusing, sectors were often referred to by the main planet within them. From the sector article: "Many sectors owed their name to their primary system which in turn was named after its primary planet. For example the planet Alderaan belonged to the Alderaan system and thus, to the Alderaan sector." Of course, even the existence of the "Alderaan sector" is poorly sourced. – Null Apr 02 '15 at 15:00
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So, governments are complex, and I was bored, so I just decided to go ahead and count the things.
See below the most zoomed-out scene I could find (0:21 in this Youtube video), and my calculations:
So with 24 rows of 36 disks each, that's a minimum of 864 'flying disks' in the Senate chamber, with 36 more for every row not shown in the image. From 2:41 in this Youtube video where you can see the roof, it looks like 24 is pretty spot-on, or at least within one or two rows.
How these numbers correlate to the actual number of planets/sectors/Senators represented I do not dare to guess.
DaaaahWhoosh
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1024.
Per the (canon) Ultimate Star Wars factbook.
GALACTIC SENATE CHAMBER
The Galactic Senate Chamber is the nerve centre of political activity on Coruscant. The huge open area is lined with 1,024 pods arrayed in concentric circles, each pod housing a delegation from an important planet, sector or political body. The pods are outfitted with anti-gravity repulsorlifts, so that when a politician wishes to address the assembled Senate, his or her pod detaches from the wall and floats into the open air in the middle of the chamber. The entire structure is fitted with voice-amplifying microphones and automatic translators, and hovercams constantly flit about to record the proceedings for the official record.
At the centremost point of the Galactic Senate Chamber is the podium of the Supreme Chancellor. This is where the elected leader of the Republic sits to hear arguments from every representative, usually joined in the podium by the Vice Chancellor and a senior administrative aide. The podium retracts into the floor when not in use, giving the chancellor access to a suite of rooms where business can be conducted between Senate sessions.
Note that the number of pods only slightly reflects the number of senators since each pod contains a delegation. Assuming (at a guess) ten senators per sector, there are potentially 10,000+ senators in total and possibly many more.
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3Out of curiosity, is it at all mentioned how many of the seats are occupied? I would expect there are empty pods to allow for room to grow... – Odin1806 Feb 25 '18 at 17:17
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@Odin1806 - All of the pods appear to have occupants. One would assume that as more of the galaxy is explored, those areas would be incorporated into the sectors that border them along the edge. The core worlds are densely packed and populous. The outer rim worlds are widely spaced and have a pretty low population density. – Valorum Feb 25 '18 at 17:20
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I can't imagine reading the "Proceedings of the Galactic Senate Daily". In-between <a political sausage making à la Bismark, there will be many tables tallying 1 Kibi-Votes on this or that point that most of the representatives are probably entirely unable to even understand. – David Tonhofer May 02 '21 at 11:33
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@DavidTonhofer So pretty much like modern political processes, with slightly more representatives? – user3482749 May 03 '21 at 16:35
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At the height of its power, the Old Republic governed a million worlds, yet millions of systems remained unclaimed, unmapped and unknown.
source: Thrawn Trilogy Sourcebook, page 107
Within the cavernous Senate rotunda, hundreds of politicians[...]
source: databank/galactic-senate
Under the New Order, the Galactic Empire continues to grow and expand, and new sectors and regions are being formed all the time.
source: Star Wars D6: Imperial Sourcebook
TheLethalCarrot
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2It's generally recommended that when referencing other material that you should also explain in your own words how it answers the question. – TheLethalCarrot Aug 09 '19 at 10:32
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24 rings if you figure 36 on the bottom level and add four pods per ring you get close to the 2000 number with 24 rings at 1968. only the CGI people know how many pods were represented. 24,372 senators (In background material composed by George Lucas in 1977 for licensees of the Expanded Universe, the "Republican Senate" represented a total of 24,372 systems and elected a Chancellor to a four year term.)
Not all of those senators had voting rights with many giving or loaning their support to seated Senators with votes.
Hawkebat
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Could you [edit] in a quote to back this up? The EU answer is good supporting evidence so that would make the answer better. – TheLethalCarrot May 02 '21 at 07:36