The Star Wars saga has been going strong for over 40 years now, so it’s hardly surprising that several plot holes have cropped up during the time. While these gaffes are occasionally addressed on-screen – like when Attack of the Clones indirectly clarified that Yoda trained Obi-Wan before Qui-Gon took over – typically, it falls to other tie-in media to plug any storytelling gaps that arise.
So if there’s a particular continuity error that’s really bugging you about everyone’s favorite galaxy far, far away, chances are there’s a novel, TV show or comic book that’s already fixed it. Indeed, Marvel’s Star Wars comics in particular have built a well-earned reputation for crafting satisfying answers to many of the saga’s biggest unexplained questions – including those we’ve rounded-up below.
Why Does Vader Take Orders From Tarkin?
The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi firmly position Darth Vader as the second most feared guy in the galaxy, with only Emperor Palpatine surpassing him in power and authority. So how come the Sith Lord plays second fiddle to Grand Moff Tarkin when we first meet him in A New Hope? It’s one of the biggest discontinuities in the original trilogy – but fortunately, Marvel’s Darth Vader comics have it covered.
Early issues in the series establish that the Emperor initially played Vader off against the Empire’s top brass, which meant occasionally taking orders from the likes of high-ranking officers like Tarkin. What’s more, we later witness a violent encounter between Vader and Tarkin that seemingly engenders a lasting mutual respect between the pair, and explains the collaborative relationship they subsequently adopt on-screen.
How Does Princess Leia Remember Her Mother?
Revenge of the Sith’s protracted denouement ticks off a laundry list of major Star Wars moments fans had been waiting to witness for over two decades. Arguably the most important of these is the birth of Luke and Leia Skywalker, which fittingly coincides with their father’s rebirth as Darth Vader. It’s a suitably emotional scene, and it’s made all the more emotional when the twins’ mother, Padmé Amidala, passes away shortly after.
But this also causes a problem for the saga’s official canon – after all, in Return of the Jedi, Leia tells Luke that she remembers their mother (albeit in fairly abstract fashion), which seems…unlikely. Enter: the Princess Leia mini-series, which subtly suggests that our heroine’s latent Force potential is the source of her otherwise impossible childhood memories.
When Did Luke Learn To Use A Lightsaber?
The original Star Wars trilogy features several memorable scenes of Luke Skywalker learning to become a fully-fledged Jedi Knight, but his lightsaber lessons are almost totally glossed over. Seriously: Obi-Wan Kenobi only taught Luke the absolute basics – deflecting incoming blaster fire – while the days, weeks or (if you want to be really generous) months he spent training with Master Yoda didn’t include a single saber technique tutorial (on screen, at least).
That leaves continuity-conscious fans in a bit of a pickle: how do they justify the formidable swordplay Luke displays when duelling Darth Vader or tearing through Jabba the Hutt’s cronies? It’s simple – they catch up on Marvel’s main Star Wars title. Set between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, this ongoing series elaborates on the lightsaber combat coaching Luke underwent with the Gamemaster, as well as additional theory on the subject he gleaned from Obi-Wan’s journals.
What Happened To All The Prequel-Era Technology?
While the technology seen in the Star Wars prequels is (generally) less advanced than the hardware of later generations, it’s nevertheless hard to swallow that none of this gear crops up in subsequent episodes. You’re telling us that nobody has any use for mobile weapons platforms like the droidekas, or could see the appeal in zipping around in a Jedi starfighter?
Fortunately, Marvel’s Star Wars comic books have this covered across the board, and prequel-era tech appears prominently in several stories. From Darth Vader heading up a squad of battle droids to Thrawn collecting buzz droids, and right on through to Luke Skywalker squaring off against MagnaGuards, the comics continue the proud tradition of recycling the saga is famous for.
Why Didn’t Chewbacca Receive A Medal?
OK, we’ll admit it: as plot holes go, Chewbacca not being awarded a medal during the closing moments of A New Hope is hardly galaxy-shattering stuff. But dang it, the flagrant disregard the Rebel Alliance shows for Chewie’s pivotal role in the destruction of the Death Star has always bothered us – to the point that we’re worried the Rebellion might have xenophobic tendencies!
Thank goodness for the Chewbacca mini-series Marvel published back in 2015, then. Here, we see the kind-hearted Wookiee bestow a medal identical to those seen in A New Hope upon a brave young girl named Zarro. The clear implication here is that Chewbacca did indeed receive a medal for his services, presumably at a separate ceremony not depicted on the big screen.
How Was General Grievous A Match For Jedi Knights?
Jedi Knights are legendary for their Force-powered prowess on the battlefield, however that doesn’t mean that non-Force sensitive opponents can’t defeat them on occasion. But even if the Republic’s sworn protectors aren’t unbeatable, it’s a bit hard to swallow that General Grievous supposedly cut down enough of them to line his cloak with their lightsabers, as shown in Revenge of the Sith.
We think we’ve found the answer to this conundrum though, in the pages of Star Wars: Age Of Republic – General Grievous. In this mini-series from Marvel, it’s revealed that the cyborg General – who is basically just a brain and a few organs inside a droid body – has inadvertently severed his connection to the Force, a horrific condition so unique it’s likely to blame for throwing his Jedi assailants off their game.
Why Is The Jedi Temple Still Part Of Coruscant’s Skyline?
Before Star Wars was sold to Disney, the saga’s creator George Lucas was notorious for tinkering with the original trilogy each time it was re-released on home media. One of the less controversial changes Lucas made was the addition of two familiar landmarks to the Coruscant skyline during Return of the Jedi’s montage sequence: the Senate and the Jedi Temple.
At first, this seemed like a rare instance of Lucas inserting elements from the prequels without causing any damage…but did he? After all, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense that Emperor Palpatine would preserve a gigantic monument to the Jedi Order. Luckily, Marvel’s Thrawn mini-series saves the day here, clarifying that Palpatine converted the Temple into his Imperial Palace – which is exactly the kind of perverse gesture we’d expect from the Dark Lord of the Sith!
Why Is Vader’s Fortress On Mustafar?
Darth Vader’s castle being located on Mustafar in Rogue One left more than a few fans scratching their heads. Sure, Sith Lords are all about maintaining their rage – and living in the same place where you were dismembered and burnt to a crisp is enough make anyone cranky – but it still seemed like an odd place for Vader to set up shop, given his options.
Why not his homeworld, Tatooine, instead? Dude has a whole bunch of terrible memories to draw on from his time spent on that desert planet, not just a lone (admittedly horrific) experience. But as it turns out, the very nature of Mustafar itself is the reason it plays host to Fortress Vader, not Tatooine. As recounted in Darth Vader: Dark Lord of the Sith, a locus for Dark Side energies resides beneath the volcanic world’s crust, which Vader can tap into via his Fortress’s tuning fork-like properties.
Why Did The Death Star Take So Long To Build?
Moon-sized battle station the Death Star took a long time to build: while construction commenced during the finale of Revenge of the Sith, it’s not finished until Rogue One nearly 20 years later. At first glance, this stacks up – we’re talking about a humongous feat of engineering here. However, the second, even bigger Death Star’s much shorter assembly period – although not quite complete, it was famously fully armed and operational in four years, tops – turns this logic on its head!
Happily, the Thrawn mini-series came up with a solution to this dilemma that is both a stroke of genius and painfully obvious, and it all boils down to secrecy. Prior to A New Hope, the Empire still had to tiptoe around the Senate, which meant resources needed to be sourced covertly. Once the Senate was abolished, keeping things hush-hush was no longer a concern, so construction on Death Star II could be fast tracked.
When Did Vader Find Out That Luke Was Alive?
Another instance of George Lucas altering existing Star Wars lore, new dialogue added to The Empire Strikes Back – coupled with the baby bump on Padme’s lifeless body in Revenge of the Sith – indicates that Darth Vader only recently became aware his son Luke was still alive. This is problematic, as the Sith Lord is shown to be aware of Luke’s existence already, in scenes that appear prior to the inserted exchange – so when exactly did Vader discover his kid had survived? And is this a glaring goof?
Not according to the Darth Vader comic book series, which confirms that the iconic baddie received the news about his Luke shortly after the events of A New Hope. The intel came from none other than famed bounty hunter Boba Fett and Vader kept it to himself – which means that he was only playing dumb when Palpatine later presents him with the same information in Empire (which is sorta implied, anyway).