10 Star Wars Fan Theories That Will Change The Way You See Everything
Every fandom has its theories, but Star Wars fans are on another level.
Armed with decades of discussion and a mountain of detailed information and expanded-universe
stories, the Star Wars fan community tears into every inconsistency, every seeming mistake,
and every tiny thread that seems to be a bit loose in pursuit of secret agendas, new angles,
and surprising explanations for seemingly inexplicable behavior in the movies.
While most of them don't hold water, some are so off-the-wall they just might work.
Here are 10 Star Wars fan theories that will change the way you see everything.
The Phantom Menace - Maybe Jar-Jar wasn't useless?
Almost nobody likes Jar-Jar Binks, the bizarre CGI sidekick character from The Phantom Menace.
Phantom has plenty of problems, but Jar-Jar is its primary lightning rod for fan hatred.
One thing people particularly despise is the Gungan's uselessness.
He doesn't do very much that couldn't have been done better by somebody else...
or does he?
One of the weirdest fan theories about Jar-Jar is that he's not a buffoon at all: he just
acts like one because he's actually an agent for the evil Sith.
There's a surprising amount of circumstantial evidence to suggest that he's sensitive to
the Force: his combat moves seem Force-assisted, and he waves his hands a lot when he talks
- the perfect camouflage for hiding a Jedi mind trick.
It sounds like a stretch at first, but the more you think about it, the more plausible
it seems.
A New Hope - Agent Robot and Agent Wookiee Once a simple stand-alone story, A New Hope
has gotten more complicated over the years, because it now fits into a much larger arc.
Case in point: during Revenge of the Sith, we see C-3PO lose all of his memories, which
explains why he can't tell Luke anything useful 19 years later, in A New Hope.
R2-D2, however, undergoes no such memory wipe.
Neither does Chewbacca, who was last seen in Episode III, right in the thick of the
action.
So why don't they warn Luke, or give him more information about his father?
Simple, says one fan theory: Chewie and R2 are Rebel Alliance agents.
They can't tell Luke anything because they're tasked with getting him off Tattooine and
into the fold of the Alliance, without arousing any Imperial suspicion.
They can't blab too much because it could jeopardize their important mission.
Revenge of the Sith - Vader can't express himself
Everyone remembers the painfully melodramatic NOOOOOOO that Anakin Skywalker - now reborn
as Darth Vader for the first time - yells when he's told of Padme's death at the end
of Revenge of the Sith.
It's one of the cheesiest moments in modern film.
Or is it?
One crazy fan theory holds that the silliness of Vader's cry isn't a result of unfortunate
stage direction, but actually happens because his new, computer-assisted voice can't adequately
process all the emotion he's trying to express.
We know for a fact that Vader's bionic mask changes his voice - he sounds very different
with the mask off, both as young Anakin and in his final moments during Return of the
Jedi.
It's not a big leap to imagine that the software that helps him speak might have trouble figuring
out how to parse an anguished cry.
The scene is still unintentionally funny no matter which way you cut it.
But in light of this theory, it's a lot more poignant, too.
The Force Awakens - Finn is in tune with the Force
Force users came from all races and backgrounds.
Even Jabba the Hutt can resist the Jedi mind trick.
So why couldn't Finn, a former Trooper with the First Order, be sensitive to it, too?
It's not hard to imagine a soldier awakening to a new power after some life-jarring event.
When Supreme Leader Snoke tells Kylo Ren that there's been an awakening, we've only seen
one character do anything remarkable yet: Finn, who's elected to leave the First Order
despite the considerable danger and difficulty of doing so.
Finn also seems to feel the destruction of the Hosnian System from a great distance,
similar to the way Obi-Wan felt Alderaan being destroyed in A New Hope.
Only someone in tune with the Force is able to do that.
He might not be the next Jedi knight, but Finn very well may have more power than anyone
expects.
The Phantom Menace – Qui-Gon Jinn, secret Sith master
Jedi knight Qui-Gon Jinn is killed off early in Episode 1, and though we see him occasionally
in the following two movies, he never becomes a major player after that.
But was that by design?
One fan theory holds that Qui-Gon was actually working with, or for, the Sith.
This theory is mostly based on his track record.
It's no secret that Qui-Gon is not quite trusted by the rest of the Jedi Council.
He did, after all, train under Count Dooku, who later went on to become Dark Lord of the
Sith.
He insists on training Anakin, over Yoda's objections, and leaves Obi-Wan Kenobi to finish
Anakin's training before Obi-Wan is ready.
And according to Star Wars Legends, Qui-Gon once had another student, Xanatos, who also
turned to the Dark Side.
In short, Qui-Gon seems to wreck things for the Jedi wherever he goes.
It's not a stretch to think he had an active interest in driving Anakin into the arms of
the Sith.
A New Hope - Luke was hidden in plain sight Remember how Luke Skywalker was hidden from
his father on the remote desert world of Tattooine?
And remember how Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker, actually grew up for years on the same planet?
How does that make sense?
If you want to hide something from the enemy, you don't put it in their childhood home - unless,
as this crazy fan theory suggests, that person hates their childhood home to much they'd
never go back to it.
Anakin lived on Tattooine as a slave.
He never liked the planet, and once expressed to Padme that he never wanted to go back there
if he could help it.
Worst of all, it's the place where his mother was killed.
The whole planet is filled with nothing but despair, hopelessness, and anger for Darth
Vader.
It stands to reason, then, that it's the last place he'd ever choose to go - even to look
for his long-lost son.
E.T.
The Extra-terrestrial – ET, also a secret Sith master (?)
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg have been friends for a long time, so it's no surprise
that they've both included nods to each others' work in their films.
The 1982 family classic E.T.
the Extra-terrestrial features a scene where E.T.
appears to personally recognize Yoda, in the form of a small child who's dressed as the
Jedi master for Halloween.
Years later, in Star Wars Episode 1, a delegation of aliens who seem to be of the same race
as E.T.
can be seen in the Senate.
Most people would chalk this up to a couple of fun Easter eggs between old pals, but one
theory holds that the connection should be taken seriously.
E.T.
seems to wield magical powers including levitation and healing, almost all of which can be explained
by the use of the Force.
And sure, he could be a Jedi, too, but Sith Lord is more entertaining somehow – at least
as long as he doesn't Force choke anybody.
A New Hope - Boba Fett killed Owen and Beru Lars
This would seem like a stretch if not for the Special Edition re-releases of the original
Star Wars trilogy.
With the addition of their new and enhanced scenes, Boba Fett now makes a brief appearance
on Tattooine around the same time that Luke is making his way to Mos Eisley.
We already know Fett will do the Empire's dirty work for the right fee.
Given his penchant for disintegrating people - Darth Vader specifically warns him not to
disintegrate his Imperial bounties in Empire - and the vaporized state of Luke's aunt and
uncle when he finds them, it's not inconceivable that he was given the grim task of torching
the homestead in Luke's absence.
Neither Sand people nor Stormtroopers are known to vaporize bodies down to their bones.
That leaves everybody's favorite bounty hunter to do the deed... presumably to help finance
his 'Vette.
Return of the Jedi - Ewoks suffer the Curse of Kintave1
On one hand, Ewoks live in tree houses, have funny voices, and look like stuffed animals
come to life.
On the other hand, their resistance efforts are lethally effective in foiling the Empire's
plans on Endor.
Using logs, rocks, and wooden spears, the Ewoks help bring the Imperial forces to their
knees.
But before all that, we're introduced to the Ewoks when they capture the heroes and prepare
to cook and eat them at a feast in honor of their new god, C-3PO.
As silly as this scene is, it implies that eating humanoid flesh is not totally outside
the realm of normalcy for Ewoks.
Of course, C-3PO and the crew manage to escape their grisly fate, but looking at all the
empty Stormtrooper helmets in the Ewok village at the end of the film, we suspect the Empire's
cloned soldiers weren't as lucky.
We'll skip the meatloaf at that potluck, thanks.
The Force Awakesn - Rey is Palpatine's granddaughter Rey, the protagonist of The Force Awakens,
could be related to a number of important people in the Star Wars universe.
Fan theories abound, but our new favorite, suggested by culinary wizard and Star Wars
super-fan J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, is possibly the most compelling: Rey is Emperor Palpatine's
granddaughter.
Think about it: the word "rey" means "king" or "ruler" in Spanish, and the Star Wars series
has always been known for characters whose names evoke the roles they play.
She's also the only Star Wars character aside from Palpatine to use a stabbing motion with
her lightsaber.
Both Rey and Palpatine use the move multiple times, but nobody else ever does.
The list of evidence is surprisingly robust, and it would make for a truly crazy twist.
Which Star Wars theories are your favorites?
Do you know any even crazier fan theories that start to make more sense the more you
think about them?
We'd love to hear about them!
Give this video a thumbs-up and give us your wildest ideas in the comments below.
And as always, be sure to subscribe to CBR for more forceful videos about movies, comic
books, video games, and a whole lot more.
1 This is a Space Ghost Coast to Coast reference.
“Kintave” is pronounced “kin-TAH-vee.”
I included it because nerds (like me) love a cross-IP reference.
However, if you think it's too obscure for our viewers to get a kick out of it, please
feel free to change it to “Ewoks eat their enemies.”
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