When Lucas first sketched one out to give early collaborators a sense of what he wanted to make, he wrote “TIE” next to it without knowing what it would stand for (or so the story goes). Crew speculated that he’d already thought it looked a little like a bow tie and he hadn’t found the right backronym yet; apparently concept artist Joe Johnston proposed “twin ion engine”.
TIE is the acronym for Twin Ion Engine.
I mean the bow tie thing kinda works too, but yeah.
When Lucas first sketched one out to give early collaborators a sense of what he wanted to make, he wrote “TIE” next to it without knowing what it would stand for (or so the story goes). Crew speculated that he’d already thought it looked a little like a bow tie and he hadn’t found the right backronym yet; apparently concept artist Joe Johnston proposed “twin ion engine”.
After all, what is Star Wars if not an endless parade of retcons?