Star Wars is ripe territory for fan theories, though they don’t always last very long. The fandom has hosted some incredible armchair writers over the years, and has always pivoted with new information and revelations. Many of the most popular theories have been shot down in recent years with the release of the sequel trilogy and the Disney+ shows, but the new ones cropping up are exciting. Meanwhile, the theories with the largest scope are still on the table — and will remain so unless Lucasfilm tackles some uncharacteristically big questions about the origins of the galactic infrastructure.
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Star Wars works best by appealing to a wide audience, so it rarely gets as deep into the minutiae of worldbuilding as other sci-fi franchises. If anything, that just leaves more room for fans to explore and flesh out their own ideas. Here are ten of the best Star Wars fan theories that are still viable at the time of this writing.
Shmi’s Death
One of the biggest turning points in Anakin’s path to the Dark Side came at the end of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones, when he witnessed his mother’s death. Shmi Skywalker was freed from slavery but was then kidnapped by Tusken Raiders and tortured, for reasons we don’t fully understand. Fans now suggest that Shmi’s death was orchestrated by Palpatine as part of his plan to corrupt Anakin and turn him to the Dark Side.
This idea picked up a lot of traction after Star Wars: The Book of Boba Fett premiered, allowing the audience to spend more time among the Tusken Raiders. They are known to attack moisture farms like the one Shmi lived on, but it’s unclear why they held her and brutalized her for so long without demanding a ransom or taking further action against her farm. It’s possible that Palpatine was exerting some mental influence on this tribe to make the treatment of Shmi worse. He may also have influenced the prophetic dreams that sent Anakin looking for her.
This all becomes extra tragic if you believe that Palpatine is the one who used the Force to conceive Anakin with Shmi. However, some fans dislike this idea because it removes Anakin’s culpability for the murders he committed here. It doesn’t need to be true, but it could be.
Clone Wars Propaganda
There are two animated series that cover wartime events between Star Wars: Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith — Star Wars: Clone Wars, which aired from 2003 to 2005, and Star Wars: The Clone Wars which aired from 2008 to 2013. Reddit user u/onex7805 suggests that the first series was a faithful depiction of the war, while the second was in-world propaganda created by the Galactic Republic. This is a really interesting idea, and it’s consistent with what we see in other Star Wars media as well.
Stormtrooper Armor
There are two popular and interesting theories about the purpose and efficacy of stormtrooper armor. It doesn’t seem to protect its wearers very well, but many fans have suggested that this wasn’t its main point. Instead, they figure the armor was meant to project strength and intimidation while hiding any humanity that might be lurking within the helmet. It’s a way for the cloners on Kamino and the Empire to make their armies look more terrifying.
This doesn’t contradict an interesting theory by Reddit user u/stormtrooper1701 — that stormtrooper armor actually does perform very well considering what it’s up against. They point out that a direct hit from a blaster is incredibly destructive to property and the environment, so the same must be true for living beings. If it weren’t for the armor, stormtroopers might be blown to bits much more easily.
Franchise Crossovers
There are several popular fan theories online that suggest Star Wars takes place in the same universe as other movies or media, and some of them make pretty compelling cases. One of the strongest is Men in Black — the movie tells us that George Lucas is secretly an alien refugee living on Earth. It would make sense that he wrote his movies about his real experiences a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away. There are other connections, as well, such as some similar character designs for aliens and a fictional language that sounds suspiciously like Huttese.
Movies about aliens visiting Earth are easy to connect to Star Wars, which is why some fans think E.T. may have come from the Galactic Empire, for example. Meanwhile, connections to Doctor Who are subtle but common. There are many canonical stories that connect Star Wars to Marvel Comics, and in fact, many fans expect Disney to start exploiting this connection soon in movies and TV shows. However, the genre-bending connections get more and more tenuous, such as this one suggesting that The Lord of the Rings‘ Middle-earth is an ancient version of Tattooine.
Grogu’s Origin
We’ve learned a lot about the origin and backstory of the Mandalorian foundling Grogu — a.k.a. The Child, a.k.a. Baby Yoda — but there are still some built-in mysteries surrounding his species and its connection to the Force. One theory that took off when The Mandalorian first premiered suggests that Grogu was born through the will of the Force — and perhaps that’s how all members of this species are born.
All the sources on the Star Wars timeline agree that Grogu was born 41 years before Star Wars: A New Hope, which is the same year that Anakin Skywalker was born. The movies tell us that Anakin was an immaculate conception and that either Darth Sidious or his master Darth Plagueis used the Dark Side of the Force to create him. This theory suggests that there was an equal and opposite reaction and that Grogu was created in the same way through the light side of the Force.
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What makes this theory really exciting is its potential to reveal more about Grogu and Yoda’s species in general. It could be that these beings are always born through the Force, and only when they are needed. However, all Star Wars writers have always shied away from revealing anything about Yoda’s species — even its name — so it’s hard to imagine them revealing something this big in The Mandalorian & Grogu.
Palpatine’s Return
While the details of Yoda’s species are the kind of mysteries we want to see teased out slowly, there’s a more ominous fan theory that it may be used to explain one of Star Wars’ most hasty and disliked plot points in the modern era: Palpatine’s return. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker shows us that Palpatine survived Star Wars: Return of the Jedi or was resurrected, and he lived in secret for a generation before making his play for power again. However, the particulars of this plan are left vague, and it feels extremely disconnected from the rest of the sequel trilogy’s plot.
The theory is that Grogu has been built up to become the connective tissue between this storyline and the rest of the fandom. Fans suggest that Grogu’s cells were used by Palpatine’s remaining loyalists for cloning experiments that were intended to bring the Emperor back — and perhaps to imbue him with new powers. They would have been hunting The Child to continue this work, and their failure would explain why Palpatine returned in an imperfect form in the later movie.
Skywalkers
Star Wars has not moved its timeline forward since 2019, and fans are itching to know what the next era in galactic history will look like. One popular theory connects the titles of the two most recent movies to suggest a new trend — there will be no more “Jedi” after the Star Wars: The Last Jedi. Instead, Force-users will now be referred to as Skywalkers, which is why the finale was titled The Rise of Skywalker.
This may seem like a small, semantic change, but it could actually signal a wide range of interesting developments. If Force-users were freed from the connotations of the title Jedi and all the traditions of that order, they could develop a whole range of new practices and philosophies, perhaps even splintering into groups that develop independently and eventually go on to learn from each other. The catch-all term “Skywalker” would be a neat nod to the past and would also make sense of Rey’s self-appointed name in the end. Fans have compared this to the way that “Caesar” started as one man’s name, but went on to become a title for Roman leaders.
Balance
There’s a small subgenre of fan theories that neatly explain plot holes and inconsistencies by suggesting that the Force itself seeks balance at all times. It bothers some fans that, during the prequel trilogy, the massive and powerful Jedi order was unable to sense Palpatine and stop him, while a single under-trained Jedi was able to do so just a few years later. This theory essentially suggests that the more Jedi there are, the less powerful each one will be, as the Force will seek to maintain balance between the Dark Side and the light. This means Luke was tapping into a much larger well of potential energy and Palpatine had much less influence over him.
Similarly, some fans think that Palpatine’s rise was inevitable in a time when the Jedi were so numerous and so involved in worldly affairs like politics and trade. They argue that a Jedi Order which couldn’t stop a single Sith was somehow imperfect, and it needed to be toppled to make room for something better. This could be an interesting idea to explore in the future, if it can be done without excusing any of the emperor’s crimes.
Droid Villains
Looking ahead, there’s an interesting theory out there suggesting that whenever the Star Wars timeline does move forward again, its next big arc will be a conflict between droids and organic life. This idea has been circulating for at least a few years now, but it has become even more appealing since the finale of Star Wars: Skeleton Crew revealed that the planet At Attin was under the control of one massive AI. There has also been a recent trend in Star Wars media commenting on the relatively low social and economic status of droids throughout the series, with Solo: A Star Wars Story essentially depicting them as an oppressed class.
The Force may be powerful, but it would have some trouble contending with a hive mind, or even a coordinated force of self-improving droids. Add to that the moral complexity of the droids’ plight and you could have a very interesting story on your hands — likely one with a solution more nuanced than blowing up another planet-killing space station.
Attachment
Finally, fans may have stumbled upon a practical reason for one of the Jedi Order’s more lofty, philosophical teachings — their quest to sever all worldly attachments. Of course, early on Lucas drew this from Buddhist teachings and other real-world philosophies, but it became a very central part of the story when attachment to Padme helped drive Anakin to the Dark Side in the prequel trilogy.
Reddit user u/Nofrillsoculus suggests that this was precisely why potential Jedi needed to be found and indoctrinated early. A Force user with loyalties and ties to their family, nation, or planet will almost certainly become corrupted, and the galaxy would gradually devolve into a nonstop struggle between Force-sensitive warlords, or Sith. The Jedi want to avoid this, but there’s still something sinister about the idea of them tracking down every single Force-sensitive child and pulling them away from their lives as early as possible.
The Star Wars franchise is streaming now on Disney+. The next release will be Andor Season 2, hitting Disney+ on April 22nd.
