Star Wars: Breaking Continuity? Theories

STAR WARS

Continuity Theories

After reviewing all three trilogies (start here), the timing is right for this post. To date, the Star Wars franchise includes eleven live action films, one animated film, and several animated and live action television series, each consisting of a number of seasons ranging from one to seven. These make up the canon Disney established shortly after acquiring of LucasFilm in 2012 and have created since. With such a large volume spanning nearly five decades (and more to come), there are bound to be some instances of broken and questionable continuity. The six original George Lucas-era films have particularly been the source of much internal debate and shared what if's and could be's for anyone that would listen and the genesis of my proclivity to form film theories. Before I get into it, a couple of things to note: 1. If any explanation has been offered in media outside the films and series, I am not considering these because the main conduit should provide enough. Anything else should only serve to enhance or tell brand new stories. 2. I typically look at things through the lens of Qui-Gon Jinn referring to Force as the Living Force, meaning it has a will of its own. Here are some items that bring established continuity into question with a proposed explanation. [Legend: OT: Original Trilogy, PT: Prequel Trilogy, ST: Sequel Trilogy, ANH: A New Hope, TESB: The Empire Strikes Back, ROTJ: Return of the Jedi, TPM: The Phantom Menace, AOTC: Attack of the Clones, ROTS: Revenge of the Sith, TFA: The Force Awakens, TLJ: The Last Jedi, TROS: The Rise of Skywalker] Spoiler Alert: The last and bonus theory contains a spoiler for a major plot point from the third and final season of The Bad Batch, and also one from the third season of The Mandalorian.

Obi-Wan's Certain Point of View

The Issue(s): In ANH, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ben) tells Luke Skywalker the following statements: 

1. [Luke knows him as Ben] "I haven't gone by the name of Obi-Wan since, oh, before you were born." Yet, he seems to be known as Obi-Wan right to the credits of ROTS, after Luke was born.

2. [referring to R2-D2 despite the droid's claim otherwise] "I don't seem to remember ever owning a droid." Yet, in AOTC, he has R4-P17 until she is destroyed by buzz droids at the beginning of ROTS. R4-G9 replaces her for his mission to Utapau.

3. [referring to Anakin Skywalker's participation in the Clone Wars] "That's what your uncle told you. He didn't hold with your father's ideals; he felt he should've stayed here and not gotten involved." Yet, the only time the audience is privy to interaction between Owen Lars and Anakin is just prior to the first Battle of Geonosis, also the first battle of the Clone Wars in AOTC.

4. [referring to Anakin's lightsaber] "Your father wanted you to have this when you were old enough, but your uncle wouldn't allow it. He feared you might follow old Obi-Wan on some damn fool idealistic crusade like your father did." Yet, at the end of ROTS, Obi-Wan takes Anakin's lightsaber from the defeated Darth Vader (and see the issue with statement 3., above).

The Explanation(s):  

1. Obi-Wan internally formulated the contingency plan if it went bad to deliver Padmé's child (not knowing they were twins) to Owen and Beru, watch over the child, and create some ambiguity around his identity with a different first name immediately after discovering Anakin would have offspring. 

2. Anakin states in AOTC that, "...Possession is forbidden..." It appears this applies to everything aside from a Jedi's lightsaber and possibly the robes they wear. This means droids and starfighters were not owned, but merely assigned, and R2-D2 said whatever it took to complete his mission. Anakin technically owns R2-D2, but the Jedi Order probably just presumed he was assigned to Anakin or Padmé or Palpatine made it reality.

3. This is also filed under "a certain point of view" along with what the Force ghost of Obi-Wan told Luke in ROTJ, all to the goal to ensure Luke embraced his destiny. Over the years, Obi-Wan and Owen had enough interaction, an example of which is in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, for him to know that is what Uncle Owen would have said, considering his knowledge of Anakin's destiny. 

4. Similar to above, in telling Luke some things he yearned to hear for the greater good, he definitely knew Anakin well enough to infer he would want his son to have his lightsaber.

 

Not the Best Hiding Place

The Issue: Of all the places in the galaxy, why would Luke, the Jedi's first hope, be hidden on Anakin's home planet of Tatooine, and with no change in last name?

The Explanation: Recall that Anakin/Vader believed Padmé was still pregnant at her death, so he initially has no reason to search for his child. From there, there are two schools of thought, and it may be a combination of them. First, despite its real-world reputation of importance, it is an out of way planet in the Outer Rim and is equivalent to a remote, rural area on earth. Second, Darth Vader is considered a completely new identity, but even so, Obi-Wan counted on the memories of Anakin Skywalker in being a slave (TPM) and the death of his mother (AOTC) as too painful to ever return without good reason. He knew any place carried risk, but this one, while known to Anakin, would also deter him. There is evidence any and/or all is correct: In ANH, he sends stormtroopers to retrieve the droids and Death Star plans from Tatooine instead of going himself. The Skywalker name was retained because of the eventuality Luke would proudly follow Anakin's legacy; he states in ROTJ, "I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

Leia Remembers Her Mother?

The Issue: In ROTJ, Leia states when Luke asks about remembering her real mother: "Just a little bit. She died when I was very young," and "She was... very beautiful. Kind, but sad." Yet, Padmé dies shortly after she was born in ROTS and Luke remembers nothing about her.

The Explanation: This is an example of the will of the Living Force. Leia also states, "Just... images really. Feelings." It was important to shaping Leia for her to know this little bit about Padmé, but Luke had all that he needed around him.

The One with the Inappropriate Sister

The Issue: Upon learning in ROTJ from Luke they are in fact siblings, Leia says, "I know. Somehow, I've always known." Yet, quite possibly the most uncomfortable kiss in my fairly extensive home media collection occurs between these two in TESB, and Luke's reaction contributes to the cringe, not to mention a few "blink and you miss it" moments prior in ANH.

The Explanation: Presuming Dean Ed Rooney's line, "So THAT's how it is in their family..." from Ferris Bueller's Day Off does not apply, in the absence of the actual truth Leia and Luke both feel a connection and mistake it for romantic attraction.

Who's Teaching Who?

The Issue: In TESB, the Force ghost of Obi-Wan tells Luke to seek out Yoda and refers to him as "the Jedi Master who instructed me." Later, on Dagobah, his disembodied voice speaks directly to Yoda to convince him to train Luke when Yoda expresses reservations, "Was I any different when you taught me?" Yet, in TPM, Qui-Gon Jinn is master and teacher to Obi-Wan as a padawan.

The Explanation: In AOTC, we do see Grandmaster Yoda instructing a class of younglings. This is sufficient to create continuity, but the second line above infers it is more than merely being in a class with other students. For some years, Qui-Gon was Obi-Wan's master up to the conclusion of his training, as he is granted the rank of Jedi Knight shortly after Qui-Gon's death and the defeat of Darth Maul. But, prior to Qui-Gon, Yoda instructed Obi-Wan one on one. This would also explain the familiarity between the two, seen in their conversation at the end of TPM, but also continuing into AOTC and ROTS.

"No, I am your maker."

The Issue: At no point during the OT does Darth Vader acknowledge recognizing C-3PO or R2-D2. Yet, in TPM, the boy Anakin built C-3PO and all additional time aside, Anakin spent an extensive amount of time with R2-D2 during the Clone Wars.

The Explanation: It is possible that with multiple droids in both series of models, Darth Vader did not recognize them as C-3PO and R2-D2. But it is simpler, a testament to no longer being Anakin Skywalker, he recognized them and just did not care. Or nearly as equally straightforward, as distressful reminders of his dead mother and wife, he blocked his memory of them.

Whose Ship Is This Anyway?

The Issue: In TESB, the Executor (a Super Star Destroyer) is seen as Darth Vader's flagship, including his meditation chamber. Yet, in ROTJ, he is seen arriving at the Death Star II in a regular Star Destroyer. After The Emperor later arrives, Vader is told to wait on the command ship, the Super Star Destroyer Executor.

The Explanation: Even if Vader's meditation chamber is portable, it is highly unlikely it is easily movable from ship to ship. Vader arrives initially on the Devastator, his previous regular Star Destroyer flagship that captured the Tantive IV in ANH. It is probably also fitted with a meditation chamber. The Emperor later arrives on the Executor, and the reason is twofold: First, The Emperor traveled on the best ship in service, and second, by doing so, he could alert the Rebel Alliance of his arrival on his timing.

The Empire Strikes Out

The Issue: The Empire has a wealth of resources and cult-like devotion among its high command on down. Yet, upon their defeat at the Battle of Endor at the conclusion of ROTJ, the Empire did not strike back (again).

The Explanation: With the simultaneous loss of the second Death Star, Executor, The Emperor and Darth Vader, the Empire was splintered. As seen at the conclusion of ROTJ, large groups of the populace were celebratory of the momentous defeat, including in the galactic capitol of Coruscant. In the imbalance of power, the New Republic established much needed stability. Disney's ST did show how those splinters came together to form the First Order over time, first mentioned in the crawl for TFA with some additional detail going forward.

New Force Powers

The Issue: The OT and PT limited abilities to Force sight, Jedi Mind Trick, object manipulation, feeling disturbances in the Force, Force choke, Force lightning, contact from beyond as a Force ghost, Force speed, Force jump, and Force tame. Yet, the ST has users with previously unseen abilities including a Force dyad, Force sustain (in spaaaace!), Force projection, Force heal, and Force ghosts doing more than communicating. 

The Explanation: One possible explanation is abilities as they manifested in individuals are as different as the individuals themselves and determined by the will of the Living Force. But, alternatively, let's break these down, one by one. The Force dyad between Rey and Kylo is at least inferred by Palpatine to be rare (and either Snoke lied about bridging their minds in TLJ and/or the potential of a dyad between two in itself was rare). Others such as Leia's Force sustain and Luke's Force projection may very well have been learned from the ancient texts Luke had collected. Though arguably, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan used Force sustain to avoid being poisoned in the conference room on the Trade Federation ship at the beginning of TPM, and Luke calling out to Leia in TESB is a less developed or less straining projection. Force heal is an ability that comes natural to certain Force users particularly attuned to the Light as previously seen in The Clone Wars (Daughter of Mortis) and The Mandalorian (Grogu). Lastly, Force ghosts have only previously been seen to speak and sit on a log or stand in the distance, but that does not limit them to these things. Yoda calling down lightning and Luke walking through fire and catching Rey's lightsaber are but a taste of what Obi-Wan meant in ANH, "If you strike me down, I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine." [Full disclosure: This is an expansion of a point in the TLJ section of my +/- Review of the ST.]

It pains me to say this.

The Issue: At the conclusion of ROTJ, Anakin Skywalker performs his final galaxy-effecting act before becoming one with the Force. One of personal redemption, he uses the armor of Darth Vader to cast The Emperor down a reactor shaft to save his son. As the prophesied Chosen One, he brought balance to the Force as his actions eradicated both Sith from the galaxy. Yet, in TROS, as Poe Dameron so eloquently put it, "Somehow, Palpatine returned."

The Explanation(s): Since Palpatine's return causes two things to come into question, I will explain both: 

1) His death: It is not clear if Beaumont was merely speculating during the brief discussion that followed the above in TROS or possessed sufficient knowledge to theorize, but it turns out he was correct, at least in part, with, "Dark science. Cloning. Secrets only the Sith knew." The body died, but Palpatine did not.

2) Balance to the Force: In ROTS, Yoda states regarding the topic, "A prophecy that misread could have been." In absence of the full wording of the prophecy, it is likely the balance is not permanent, as we hear the disembodied voice of Anakin tell Rey, "Bring back the balance, Rey, as I did." Not that a character, even the Force ghost of one, cannot be mistaken, but arguably Luke Skywalker is the true chosen one as the intersection point of both Anakin and Rey, presuming her actions are permanent. Another viewpoint is if the Jedi Purge led by Vader (Anakin) was successful by the time of ANH, there was balance: two Jedi, Obi-Wan and Yoda, and two Sith, Darth Sidious and Darth Vader. Training Luke caused a temporary imbalance until Obi-Wan became one with the Force, potentially explaining his sacrifice. (A temporary imbalance was also caused by Luke training Grogu until he rejected the training to go be with his dad, perhaps part of his intuitive reasoning for doing so.) This means if Rey is the last Jedi, then there is another Sith somewhere.

Bonus: "They were clooones."

The Issue: Chancellor Palpatine has a certain aged appearance in AOTC. Yet, in ROTS, he appears somewhat younger.

The Explanation: I consider this one a bonus because it is the wildest one and the one for which I got nothing otherwise. (Reminder: it also contains the spoiler alert from the intro paragraph.) Palpatine's full immersion in the Dark Side wreaked havoc on his body. His original body could be restored by being kept artificially alive while Palpatine inhabited another cloned body. However, while inhabiting a cloned body, he was unable to utilize the Force, so a cloned body could not be a permanent replacement. The damage to his appearance was irreversible after his encounter with Mace Windu in ROTS, including future clones. But he desired a vessel with Force potential as seen in a main plot point of the final season of The Bad Batch. It takes place around a year after the Empire rose. This was also a goal of Moff Gideon's during The Mandalorian, which suggests it had either been accomplished secretly or Palpatine possessed a clone body without Force potential on Exegol until it was with Gideon's work around five years after the Empire's fall. If not for these latter storylines, I would have simply theorized he switched bodies as they were no longer usable.

In conclusion, I always feel a need to clarify my intention. It is not to replace existing canon in additional media. I am a proponent of, "It is what it is, whether you agree or not." If a fan has an insurmountable problem with story direction, perhaps it is time to let go, move on, and let others enjoy it if that is their choice. If not evident from previous posts, I simply enjoy the exercise of taking evidence and turning out explanations that are not explicit. Some of the above is exactly how I have viewed things for quite a while, and others I have only arrived at as a result of this post. Regardless of your stance on any of it: May the Force be with you. Or IRL, May the Lord be with you.

Next up...Westerns!