Star Wars: The Resistance Wrote Messages On Bombs to Attack the First Order

One of the joys of new Star Wars films being created is that fans have shown how much we’re willing to delve into the world, leading to a variety of books about each installment being published that explore elements not fully explained in the films. In Star Wars: The Last Jedi: The Visual Dictionary, readers can see that members of the Resistance would scrawl messages on their bombs before attacking the First Order.

The messages appear to be scrawled in Aurebesh and, with one of the bombs reading, “Hann Says Hi.” The Resistance most likely wouldn’t have known much about Han prior to his death, so this was most likely more of a reference that the production designer included to pay tribute to the character.

These messages, which are often referred to as “love notes,” date back to World War II when American soldiers would write messages on bombs like “Merry Christmas Adolph.” This tradition continued past World War II with soldiers even taking to writing messages on their uniforms and helmets.

In The Force Awakens, the Resistance appeared to be a relatively strong organization with a massive fleet of ships and soldiers at their disposal. With The Last Jedi, those numbers were almost completely decimated, leaving only a select few members alive to carry on their objectives.

The ending of the film left audiences with a variety of questions about leadership in the Resistance, mostly centering around Leia, Poe and Holdo. With Carrie Fisher having passed away last year, we know that she won’t be appearing in Episode IX, yet her attitude towards the end of The Last Jedi implied that she knew she would no longer be the leader of the organization regardless.

Holdo proved herself to be the most worthy candidate, yet her jump to hyperspace that eviscerated the First Order’s fleet might have been her final action, leaving audiences wondering if her ship’s shield survived the maneuver. If she didn’t survive, this would leave Poe as one of the highest ranking members of the organization, and while he did show mature leadership by the end of the film, he was also quite reckless throughout most of the film’s running time.

Audiences will see more of the Resistance when Episode IX hits theaters on December 20, 2019.

The Last Jedi is in theaters now.

[H/T Twitter, poesdameron]