Star Wars: 5 Things That Still Make No Sense About A New Hope After 49 Years

The Star Wars franchise first started in 1977, when a young visionary by the name of George Lucas dared to create a sprawling space opera blockbuster. The success of the original Star Wars, later given the additional subtitle A New Hope, spawned sequels, followed by numerous other entries into the franchise spanning several forms of media. As the Star Wars Universe has continued to grow, it has become one of the biggest and most iconic sci-fi franchises in all of pop culture. The movie that started it all remains one of the most beloved entries into the sci-fi genre, but that doesn’t mean that every aspect of the film makes perfect sense.

In the almost five decades since its original release, fans have had plenty of time to dissect the finer points of Star Wars: A New Hope. While the movie itself remains an outstanding piece of sci-fi history, there are also elements of Star Wars: A New Hope that are clear mistakes. Although no movie needs to be entirely perfect, in an ideal world, their respective stories should at least make sense, but in the case of these unfortunate points, A New Hope doesn’t entirely add up.

5) Darth Vader’s Bizarre Claim About The Force

As well as being the source of several Star Wars characters’ daddy issues, Darth Vader remains the franchise’s most iconic villain. Introduced at the beginning of A New Hope as the ominous commander of the Galactic Empire, Darth Vader’s instantly recognizable voice and imposing demeanor cemented him as one of the most memorable aspects of the movie. However, one of Vader’s lines, spoken to a proud Imperial officer boasting of the Death Star’s destructive power, doesn’t make any sense. In response, he claims that: “the ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force.”

Vader’s claim makes sense in only an incredibly abstract sense, and in hindsight, it’s hard to understand exactly why it was stated. Over the years, the Force has seen characters achieve some impressive feats, but nothing like the raw destructive force of the Death Star. While the Force is of course incredibly powerful in certain situations, its power is nothing like that of the Death Star, and any comparison of the two is little more than utterly nonsensical.

4) Why The Empire Let The Escape Pod Go

Star Wars: A New Hope opens with an exciting scene in which Imperial forces board a Rebel ship in search of the stolen Death Star plans. During their attack, the Rebel ship launches an escape pod containing C3PO, R2-D2, and the plans, and the Imperial soldiers who notice dismiss it after a cursory scan as there are no organic lifeforms on board. This kick-starts the movie’s plot, as the droids and plans eventually reach Luke Skywalker, but in retrospect, it doesn’t actually make sense at all.

Star Wars’ droids rank among some of the coolest sci-fi movie robots of all time, and it is well-established that they’re not just incredibly common, but also more than capable of carrying stolen plans. This means that Imperial soldiers should have known that the escape pod could potentially contain droids carrying the plans, and they should have intervened in its departure. The fact that they simply ignored it makes them seem totally inept, and while that’s not entirely off the mark, it’s a nonsensical plot point that still grates on some fans.

3) The Rebels Shouldn’t Have Needed To Fly Through The Trench

As well as being a key point in the Star Wars franchise’s timeline, the Battle of Yavin is one of the most exciting space battles in the history of its movies. After receiving and analyzing the Death Star plans, the forces of the Rebel Alliance detail their plan of attack, which includes flying the length of a trench — in which they are sitting ducks for Imperial fighters — before making a near-impossible shot into a small exhaust port. Their victory against the Empire proves to be a turning point in the Galactic Civil War, but a key part of their attack doesn’t seem to serve any particular purpose.

It doesn’t make sense that the Rebels should have to fly their X-Wings along the trench in the lengthy approach to their target. Thinking about the logistics of space flight and the movement of Star Wars’ ships, it is clear that the long trench run was completely unnecessary, as the X-Wings could simply have approached from closer to the exhaust port. While the trench adds to the suspense of the scene, it really doesn’t add up from a purely logical perspective.

2) Leia Knowingly Led The Empire To The Rebel Base

Princess Leia’s role in A New Hope cemented her as a key figure in the Star Wars franchise, and a beloved character for many fans due to her confident, competent air and no-nonsense attitude. However, there are a few Princess Leia plot holes that arise as a result of her actions in A New Hope, most notably just after her escape from the Death Star. When Han, Luke, and Leia manage to successfully escape the Death Star, they head to the Rebel Base on Leia’s instruction, leading the Empire straight to the Rebel Forces in the process.

The Empire tracking the Millennium Falcon makes sense, but the fact that Leia let Han and Luke travel directly to the Rebel Base does not. Leia voices her suspicion that the Empire is tracking them, but makes no argument to better evade them. There are many methods that could potentially throw the Empire off, including switching to a different ship or making some effort to remove the Imperial tracker. Instead, Leia leads the Empire right to the Rebel base, endangering the lives of the entire Rebel Alliance through her apparent recklessness.

1) Nobody Bothered To Change Their Name

The events surrounding Luke Skywalker’s birth and childhood on Tatooine all stem from Obi-Wan Kenobi’s plan to hide Anakin’s children, allowing his former padawan to believe his children had died in childbirth along with their mother. While the plan to hide Leia worked well, Luke was instead hidden with Anakin’s only surviving relatives — his half-brother Owen and his wife, Beru — on Anakin’s own home planet. What’s worse, Luke was still raised under the name Skywalker, and was watched over by Obi-Wan, or “Old Ben” Kenobi.

Given the details that later come to light via the sequels and the prequel trilogy, very little about Luke’s upbringing makes sense. Hiding his existence from Darth Vader would make sense, but the circumstances of Luke’s upbringing don’t match the supposed idea of keeping him a secret. Luke Skywalker’s place in Star Wars history might be intrinsically connected to his father, but the half-hearted attempt to conceal his existence simply doesn’t add up.

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