Ten Star Wars Plot Holes/Inconsistencies Explained

I tried something like this last year with Back to the Future, so I thought I’d give this franchise a try. Of course, this is a much larger franchise. And as you can imagine, there are more plot holes in these movies. Especially since the pre-quels contradict so much of what was established in the classic movies. Which I never understood, it’s not as if they had all new writers who never heard of Star Wars. Couldn’t Lucas have had things tied together better? To make matters worst Lucas loves to tinker with the existing movies, usually just to add effects but once in awhile he will make a change which creates a new plot hole that was never there before!!

 

Star Wars is amazingly bad at not keeping its own continuity. You just know that what Kylo Ren said to Rey in “Last Jedi” about her parents will be retconned in the next movie, and we’ll find out her parents do have a backstory. They’ll just say that Ren lied to get her on his side. That’s an easy one to excise. If they do that it wont be the first time they went back on something in these movies. Obi Wan clears up some confusion in Jedi about what he told Luke ("What I told you was true, from a certain point of view"). Or how about the line of dialogue at the end of “Sith” about memory wiping C3PO. Ohhh that’s why he didn’t remember Anakin created him or the Skywalker name later! For a minute there I thought that stuff in Phantom Menace was a contrivance to get him into that first movie.

So here are things that don’t add up between films and my explanation for why they happened, which of course I have no way to prove these are just theories. And in this article I am going by what has been established in the main movies. If something I mentioned was “explained” in a non-canon material that’s all well and good but I am not aware of it. And I am not a “Star Wars” aficionado by an means, so if I missed something that does explain these inconsistencies in universe feel free to let me know. As always, all opinion and just in good fun.

 

Han Shot First?

Let’s start with one which doesn’t exactly count really but I had to mention it. This is a famous one, and I mean famous! In most of these inconsistencies it is from one movie to another. But here. Lucas went back and adjusted something in the same movie. We all know this scene, Han is confronted by Greedo about the debt he owes Jabba. This scene exists just to show us Solo is bad ass. Originally, Solo just shoots. But later additions add a shot from Greedo to make it seem like Han was shooting in self defense. Which is stupid, and makes no sense. Yes Han shot first.








My head canon on the Wookie Scene in Sith

Ok this isn’t really a plot hole but just a weird thing that happens. Why did we waste so much time with Yoda on the Wookie planet? Aside from fan service (getting Chewbacca into the prequels). Well, remember the Cantina scene in “A New Hope”? I always figured that Obi Wan went to Chewbacca and said “hey, remember how Yoda helped you guys? Well, I’m a Jedi too and was wondering if you could return the favor by finding me a pilot”. Maybe that’s how Chewie got Han to agree to take the four in the four, he clearly didn’t want to.







Leia remembers her mother

EVERYONE brings this up. It’s one of the most egregious things in any of these movies. I mean did Lucas ever see the other movies? Anyway in JEDI Leia recalls her mother as “beautiful”, “kind” and “sad”. She clearly has some memories of her. But, does she? A lot of people say that since Leia is force sensitive she had an awareness in the womb she never forgot. And I think that’s fair. Leia clearly says she only remembers “images” and “feelings”. Since Padme spends most of “Sith” worrying and crying over Anakin, Leia’s description sounds apt.







I thought Yoda was Obi Wan’s master?

In Empire when he appears to Luke, Obi Wan tells him to train with Yoda who was his master. Except that he was trained by Qui-Gon Jinn as established in Phantom Menace. Well, aren’t all Jedi’s “masters?” I mean maybe he was just generalizing a little. All Obi Wan says is that Yoda “instructed him”. It’s ok because Obi Wan also says that he took an interest in Anakin and hoped to train him like Yoda had done. That doesn’t quite gel with what we see in that first movie.







Vader doesn’t recognize Luke or Leia as his kids in A New Hope?

There a lot of things in “A New Hope” that seem off in retrospect. Of course this was because the other movies hadn’t been written yet (I dont care what Lucas insists) and a lot of plot points hadn’t been developed. Vader feels nothing when he stands in front of Leia, his daughter! But even worst is that he can’t seem to figure out who Luke is. Oh sure he “feels” that the “force” is strong in him, but he doesn’t figure out until sometime before Empire begins. I think it’s because he believed the kids died with Padme, and just refused to consider it. How did Vader realize who Luke was? Ummm….got me there.








Luke became a Jedi Master by training with Yoda for only a few days?

Ok this one is easy. First of all, we’re not sire how many days Luke had with Yoda exactly. More importantly, Luke left early as we know, but we also know that there was a good amount of time between Empire and Jedi. More than enough for Luke to work on his own and perfect is skills. It’s well established he didn’t rejoin Yoda until we see him do it in Jedi, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t practice. Finally, Yoda says he still has to kill Vader to seal the deal meaning while Luke had confidence, he still wasn’t 100% yet.







“The Other”

Just to show that Lucas didn’t have all the answers even after the first movie, we have this oddity in “Empire”. As Luke takes off Obi Wan says that he is their last best hope. Yoda says “No, there is another”. In Jedi we find out this is supposed to be Leia..right? Yeah this was a bad line and I bet Lucas is kicking himself for not editing it when he had the chance. So why does Yoda say this when Obi Wan knows full well about Leia? Maybe it means he had no faith in her. That sounds awful but the way Obi Wan hid her, in the open, indicates that he was not as worried about Vader finding her as much as Luke. It’s not flattering to his character, but maybe Obi Wan had no faith in Leia so Yoda had to point out that, yeah, he should!








The Force can do THAT???

Midichlorians was a stupid idea. Ok got that out of the way. The Force is often given new abilities as the movies went along, some lamer than others. “The Last Jedi” was no exception. I actually liked the movie. I don’t get all the people who hated so much hey want the film to be ignored. That’s a little harsh. However, there were foolish decision in the movie. It seemed as if the writers wanted to make EVERYTHING a surprise, and instead created plot holes. Who was Snoke? Why did Rose save Finn? And possibly the worst, how in the world could Luke force project himself light years way like that in the end??? To be fair, it clearly takes all he has to do it. I mean, it kills him! Some people object to this since it was never established, but it doesn’t bother me. Mostly because the do make it clear this is not easy.  My guess is this is a power akin to bringing the dead back to life. Something which is never taught because of how dangerous it is.







Why did force ghost Anakin appear young at the end of Jedi

Another Lucas change that hurts more than it helps. There is a simple out of universe reason for this. Because showing the actor who played Anakin in Jedi would have made even less sense after Hayden Christensen had done the prequels. I kinda gotta give Lucas credit for realizing how lame that would be in hindsight. The problem is the fix doesn’t really fix it. A lot people wonder why Obi Wan and Yoda weren’t young also, but to me that makes sense. They would be in the form Luke knew them. But what about Anakin? My guess is that it is to show that Vader is really gone, and we see Anakin back when he was good and pure. Course, the prequels made it clear he was never totally good and pure. And that leads us to my last point….







Obi Wan’s Entire Exposition Dump in A New Hope

Yeah this is the biggest one I think because it was so easy to take note of. I could understand glossing over Leia remembering her mother or Vader not realizing who Luke was, or even the idiocy of Anakin building C3PO originally, but how in the world did this get so botched? I mean it’s like Lucas had never even seen the movies HE WROTE. Ok so Obi Wan gives Luke backstory on his father. We know that Anakin wasn’t killed by Vader but became Vader, but that was resolved in Jedi. Fine. What about the rest? Let’s see here is what he says:

Obi Wan says he doesn’t recognize R2D2 or recall owning a droid. Um, R2 spend a lot of time with Obi Wan and everyone else through the first pre-quel movie. why doesn’t Obi Wan remember him?

Anakin was the best starfighter in the galaxy and a cunning warrior. Sure he was. He was a rebellious hothead who had a temper problem. I’m  not even sure “good friend” is accurate.

Anakin wanted his son to have his lightsaber when he was old enough. When did Anakin reveal that? while he was screaming in the lava?

Anakin was sedeuced by the dark side and when he was the good man he was was destroyed and he became Darth Vader. Yeahh.....it was played off more as a conscious decision he made quite willingly.

And how come the Emperor doesn’t get a mention? He was integral to Anakin becoming Vader but somehow he never gets brought up.


So what’s my explanation for all of this? Some people call Obi Wan a liar, others say he was a silly old man. I think he was trying to spare Luke the truth so that he wouldn’t be driven to the dark side himself. I don’t think saying to Luke “well, you’re father was a bit of a jerk who let the emperor sway him to the dark side quite easily really”.

But I also get the feeling if he could, Lucas would go back and rewrite some of that dialogue because it does not hold up. Probably the same way he would change the moment in Empire when Leia gives Luke a soft kiss. Which after what we learned in Jedi has seemed icky for over thirty years now!

So there you go, ten Star Wars plot holes. Let me know what you guys think. Course there are plenty more I could have mentioned. I didn’t even get into the mess “Rogue One” and “Solo” made! A  franchise this rich and full sure gives it fans plenty to talk about.