The Top 10 Inconsistencies in Star Wars

Star Wars is a series that has been famous for over 40 years now, and only seems to be gaining popularity, now having arguably the largest fanbase in...the world? And for good reason. As you probably know, it’s by far my favorite movie series, and that of many others. However, there are still some things that...just still don’t make sense. Being such a large series, it is impossible for plot holes to be avoided, but some are just too big. To be clear, these things don’t negatively change my view of the saga in any way, and they shouldn’t change yours either. But they’re worth noting.

So, here are the top 10 events and facts in Star Wars that just don’t add up.

Real quick, I’m going to make an honorable mention: an item that didn’t quite make the top 10 but is still significant. Sort of like a #11 that doesn’t make my title invalid.

HONORABLE MENTION: The wrong messenger?

Near the end of The Force Awakens, Rey is sent in the Millenium Falcon to find Luke Skywalker, ultimately ending up with him on the island of Ahch-To. But...back up a moment. Why on earth did the Resistance send her? They just met her. Why would they entrust her with taking Luke’s saber and convincing him to return? Luke probably wouldn’t take her seriously. And oh, by the way, he didn’t. Wouldn’t sending Leia be a much, much better idea? Luke knew her, loved her, trusted her, and would be a lot more likely to listen to her over some random member of the Resistance. To J.J. Abrams’s plot, this works fine, but if you step back for a moment, this is kind of ridiculous.

Now, on to the top 10.

#10: The high ground

Ah yes, that. The divisive debate over the merits of the so-called “high ground.” During Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker’s fight on Mustafar, Obi-Wan claimed the battle was “over” because he “had the high ground.” While it’s certainly true that being positioned above one’s opponent in a duel can be quite advantageous, does that really mean the fight was over just because Obi-Wan had reached a slightly elevated plane? This sounds extremely minor, but think about it a little further. When has this ever been a huge advantage? And what about Obi-Wan vs. Darth Maul? Didn’t Maul have much higher ground than Obi-Wan, but proceed to nevertheless get cut in half moments later? Obi-Wan did soon defeat Anakin, but was the “high ground” really the main factor? The evidence points otherwise.

#9: Representative Binks

Jar Jar Binks may be the most beloved or the most hated character in the Star Wars universe, depending on who you ask. Either way, he has been the target of much criticism and joking ever since he was introduced. Here’s the problem. He was there for comic relief, and that’s about all he did. He was constantly messing things up and getting in the way, while somehow making all his blunders turn out well (the debate over whether or not he is a Sith lord is for another time). However, despite his lack of a brain or speaking abilities, he somehow ends up becoming a Naboo senator? As if that isn’t crazy enough, he keeps that position for the remainder of the war and is involved in quite a few important decisions made in the Senate. How in the galaxy did he get this job and who thought he of all creatures would be fit for it? Literally anyone else could have been a better fit. Now, this isn’t to hate on Jar Jar at all, but it makes no sense that anyone would trust him to represent Naboo in the Senate.

#8: Old friends

In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke travels with R2-D2 to Dagobah and soon meets Yoda (whom he doesn’t immediately realize to be the Jedi master he’s looking for). But what about R2? He had been around Yoda numerous times during the Clone Wars and the time of the Republic, so wouldn’t the two have recognized each other? Instead, Yoda tries to steal a flashlight and R2 fights him over it. Neither figure looked much different, so that wouldn’t be a factor. Perhaps they were just playing dumb? Would there really be any need to do that? And, for that matter, how about Obi-Wan and R2 in A New Hope?

#7: Not-so super weapons

What’s with the bad guys and giant weapons? Giant weapons that have major weaknesses that can be easily exploited? So let’s get this straight. The Empire built Death Star 1 and allowed the plans to be stolen. The rebels quickly found that there was an exposed exhaust port (try saying that 10 times fast) that led to the reactor core, the hitting of which would blow up the entire station. Then they tried it again, and this time Palpatine literally let the rebels gain access to the plans. Wait, what? Oh, I see, you’ve got the whole thing protected by a shield with a generator on a moon full of teddy bears that are essentially mini Chuck Norrises. And the generator is poorly guarded. And so is the bunker controlling everything. Sounds like a plan. Well, that got blown up from a hit on the inner core as well. And then the First Order had to recycle the idea a third time? I guess Starkiller Base was safer, since it took up an entire planet and blocked anything travelling slower than lightspeed from getting through. Except this one was basically the easiest to destroy. A bunch of X-wings and a tiny ground team got in and blew it up, you guessed it, from the inner core. Come on, bad guys, are you ever going to give some competition?

#6: Anakin’s Force ghost

As you know, at the end of Return of the Jedi, the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan, Yoda, and the redeemed Anakin are seen “watching over” Luke. With regards to Anakin, this is confusing on multiple fronts. First, how did he learn this power? Only the Jedi can have Force ghosts, and we know that Anakin hadn’t learned how to do it before his fall to the Dark Side. It’s been suggested that as Anakin was dying on the second Death Star, Obi-Wan spoke to him and quickly told him how, but we know from Qui-Gon Jinn that presence after death is not something the Jedi can learn overnight. It takes much, much more than hearing a lecture. Second, in the original release of Return of the Jedi, Anakin’s Force ghost is played by Sebastian Shaw, displaying the old, redeemed Anakin. But after the prequels George Lucas went back and replaced him with Hayden Christensen (the younger Anakin). This doesn’t make any sense. Why would Anakin, who had at that point been pulled to the Dark Side, show up to Luke? And how could Luke recognize him as his father?

#5: No, I am your father...I think?

In A New Hope, Princess Leia is held on Darth Vader’s ship and interrogated for the location of the Rebel base. Throughout these proceedings, how did it never occur to Vader that this person was his own daughter? How did he not sense it? He could sense that Luke had the Force from another ship (during the Battle of Yavin), and was not surprised when he found out from the Emperor that Luke was his son. He got that. But why couldn’t he sense that Leia was his daughter after being literally right next to her so many times? That might have changed the course of things.

#4: Bad senses

One of the driving forces behind the entire prequel trilogy is the fact that Palpatine is a Sith lord posing as the Supreme Chancellor of the Republic Senate. The Jedi don’t realize this until it’s too late to stop Order 66. But why didn’t they realize that before? The Jedi Temple was located very close to where Palpatine worked in the Senate, and the Jedi were constantly meeting with and talking to him. Out of all those hundreds of Jedi, couldn’t at least one of them sense that something was wrong with the Chancellor long before they did? Sure, the Dark Side could “cloud their vision,” but still, over all that time, with that many opportunities, surely someone would realize what was going on, unless the Jedi simply aren’t all that they’re made out to be.

#3: Memories

In Return of the Jedi, during the “dramatic” dialogue that reveals Luke and Leia are siblings, Luke asks Leia if she remembers her mother (who, of course, was Padmé). Leia tells him that she only remembers “images” of her mother, describing her as beautiful and sad. Luke responds that he “has no memory of his mother.” Wait a minute. We all know that Luke and Leia’s mother died while giving birth to them. How would either of them be able to remember anything about her? We do know that Leia was somewhat Force-sensitive, so that accounts for some of it, but what about Luke? He was strong with the Force as well, and was born at the same time (even slightly before, I believe), so why wouldn’t he remember Padmé as well? Would love it if you cleared thatup, George.

#2: The Holdo Maneuver

We get it, The Last Jedi itself is basically one big inconsistency. However, I’m referring to the scene where Admiral Holdo “bravely” rams her command ship into the enemy at lightspeed after everyone else evacuated. This raises two issues. First, why did Holdo feel the need to pilot the ship? There’s this thing called autopilot. She could have set everything up and then left with the other transports. There’s also the option of having a droid pilot the ship. I’m sure they had some on hand. I guess Holdo chose to die just so everyone would think she was a hero. Granted, her character had to be rid of somehow, but it still doesn’t make sense. And the even bigger problem is with regards to this strategy and the rest of Star Wars. Why wasn’t lightspeed used as a weapon more often, if it was such a useful and powerful tool? There are many instances in which this would have been a good idea, but lightspeed ramming has basically never been used. Oh, why must Disney create more problems?

#1: Kathleen Kennedy

Just kidding. But also not really.

#1: “Hold your fire”

What a coincidence. The biggest problem comes at the absolute beginning of the entire franchise. During the opening scenes of A New Hope, R2-D2, who carries the plans to the Death Star, escapes from the captured Tantive IV with C-3PO. Inside the Star Destroyer, the escape pod is seen heading toward Tatooine, but Imperial officers do not fire on it, because “there aren’t any life forms on board.”

Hold up.

WHAT?!?!? What in the world were they thinking? The Empire captured the Rebel ship because they knew the Death Star plans were on board. Putting the plans in an escape pod would be about the oldest trick in the book, and the Empire fell for it like that?? The pod was launched from the Tantive. How would destroying it hurt them in any way? And why is having life forms or no life forms the difference between destroying the escape pod and not destroying it? Those officers had some major training issues. If they had fired on the escape pod and blown it up, they could have literally crippled the Rebellion and protected the Empire’s rule. Then again, the Star Wars franchise would never be the same.

There are quite a few other things that I didn’t mention, but those are the ones I think are the biggest. Are there any major ones that I missed? Are there solid explanations for any of the ones I mentioned? Let me know! And as always, may the Force be with you.