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The First Death Star exploded during the Battle of Yavin.
The Second Death Star exploded during the Battle of Endor.

What is the total number of people killed on the 2 Death Stars when they exploded?

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  • 7
    But that's ok because they were ALL really evil... ;)
    – djm
    May 28, 2013 at 17:17
  • 17
    Was it ever confirmed that anyone died in the explosions? I think it is all rebel propaganda.
    – Xantec
    May 28, 2013 at 17:27
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    Uncountable lives were lost in those regrettable terrorist acts. Please stop the Rebel scum. Sign petition 1432/XZ to enforce the Galactic Empire Security Act. Call your Imperial representative now!
    – Andres F.
    Jun 1, 2013 at 0:41
  • @djm - Except for the independent contractors. They were just working on a government project.
    – Valorum
    Feb 12, 2020 at 21:24

3 Answers 3

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The Death Star Technical Companion by West End Games lists the first Death Star specs as follows:

The first Death Star is depicted in various sources of having a crew of:

  • 265,675, as well as 52,276 gunners, 607,360 troops, 30,984 stormtroopers, 42,782 ship support staff, and 180,216 pilots and support crew.

  • Its hangars contain assault shuttles, blastboats, Strike cruisers, land vehicles, support ships, and 7,293 TIE fighters. It is also protected by 10,000 turbolaser batteries, 2,600 ion cannons, and at least 768 tractor beam projectors.[7]

Wookieepedia gives these as the crew complement of the second Death Star, referenced from Star Wars, Behind the Magic:

Crew (485,560), Gunners (152,275), Troops (1,295,950), Infantry (127,570), Technical personnel (75,860), Pilots (334,432)

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    Then again, what were the dimensions? The size of a moon can mean anything from Charon to Titan. (Is Charon a moon anymore?)
    – Jersey
    May 28, 2013 at 21:05
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    This give a total of 1,148,309 peoples for the first Death Star. Since it was fully operational and the explosion was sudden and unexpected, the number could be used as it. But it's more complicated for the second one. 1 : it was not completed 2 : according to Wookiepedia Just prior to the destruction, a large amount of the non-essential crew underwent an evacuation order. Also, You should put the totals in a TLDR.
    – DavRob60
    May 29, 2013 at 12:40
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    As DavRob said, please don't make me do arithmetic.
    – Martha
    May 31, 2013 at 18:31
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    My grandfather was one of the support crew from the first Death Star. A blue collar job, but he worked hard to raise my family's standard of living. Then those Rebel scum killed him!
    – Andres F.
    Jun 1, 2013 at 0:44
  • @Jersey Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra are smaller than Charon, and they are definitely moons.
    – McKay
    Dec 3, 2019 at 5:35
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According to this link (which cites canon sources): The crew of the second Death Star is 485,560.
This link (which may not be canon) puts the crew of the first DS at 322,951
UPDATE
And if I'm reading this correctly: The Death Star Technical Companion (PDF) states the crew is 265,675 AND puts the passengers at 607,360!

And to complicate matters even more: I believe in one of the books, someone asks Luke how may people he killed on the first DS and he said about 1 million. Obviously, he felt very guilty about that.
So, the Death Star Technical Companion, if accurate, is more in line with Luke's statement that he killed about a million people! (Assuming everyone was on board)

Therefore, (assuming they were all on board) we're looking at anywhere from approximately 1.3 to almost 1.5 million people killed (at the very least).

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  • 5
    Don't forget all the contractors on the Second Death Star. It was under construction, and you know there were loads of contractors billing time against those sweet government contracts.
    – Jeff
    May 28, 2013 at 20:16
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    They could have turned it down. Just because it's good pay doesn't mean you should be fixing a mob boss's roof... sorry, wrong movie!
    – Jersey
    May 28, 2013 at 21:02
  • No, Wikia is in no way, shape or form is "canon", unless a specific Wikia article directly cites a specific fact from specific place in canon (via a quote). In case of Death Star, they do seem to have a reference, but you should indicate what the reference used by Wikia is in your answer excplicitly (the way Thaddeus's answer did).
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    May 31, 2013 at 14:18
  • @DVK: Thaddeus used the same link as I for the Death Star 2. The wookiepedia has canon and non canon references at the bottom. And furthermore, I clearly stated I was unsure about canon vs non canon so I really don't know what the issue is here or why it deserved a down vote. Did you down vote Thaddeus too? He used the same link...
    – djm
    May 31, 2013 at 14:48
  • @djm - the downvote was for lacking direct cites (or at least stating that Wikia has them); and for giving the wrong impression - whether you meant to or not - that Wikia is itself canon. My comment was fairly clear on what I think needs to be fixed to reverse the DV.
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    May 31, 2013 at 14:56
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TL;DR: We don't know for sure.

According to the new canon novel Star Wars: Bloodline, the total for both Death Stars was roughly 1.5 million people killed; according to the new canon novel Star Wars: Lost Stars, the destruction of the first Death Star alone killed somewhere between "nearly a million and "nearly two million" people.

“Don’t misunderstand me. Obviously the Rebellion was right to oppose Palpatine. Something had to be done. But if you ask me, that hardly condones the terrorist tactics of the Rebel Alliance.”

“Terrorist tactics?”

Casterfo stopped mid-pace; the two of them now stood in the heart of one of the long, dark tunnels, the wind rippling their robes and chilling Leia to the bone. He said, “Destroying the Death Stars, for a death toll of nearly one and a half million people, the vast majority of whom were low-level Imperial officers or even civilian workers?"
-Star Wars: Bloodline

This figure comes from an apologist for the Empire, and seems fairly reliable.

In another canon novel, Star Wars: Lost Stars, Thane Kyrell, an actual member of the Imperial Navy gives a slightly higher figure:

Obviously, the Rebel Alliance was no better; it had blown up the Death Star with nearly two million people on board.
- Star Wars: Lost Stars

But his friend Ciena Ree, also an Imperial soldier, provides a different number:

“And nearly a million aboard the Death Star.” Ciena refused to ignore Jude’s death. She still had nightmares of running through the station’s corridors, screaming for Jude to get on a shuttlecraft, but never finding her friend.
- Star Wars: Lost Stars

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  • Isn't the point of being an officer, even just a lieutenant, that you boss around a squad of enlisted troops? In any military organisation the vast majority are enlisted grunts, not officers. And we do see a lot of stormtrooper grunts in Episode IV. Or maybe they don't count because they were just clones.
    – Paul Johnson
    Jun 26, 2016 at 16:17

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