# Star Wars contradiction
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 9, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268 "2004-03-09T06:55:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/1 "2004-03-09T06:55:15Z")
I’m just curious if anyone else has noticed this contradiction in the original **Star Wars** trilogy. IIRC, it was pointed out some where in the trilogy that if a force-sensitive person kills someone, that force sensitive person is caught in the force’s dark side. However, Luke kills a bunch of storm troopers in **ANH** and he remains (seemingly) in the good side. I just thought I’d point that out.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2004, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/2 "2004-03-09T07:10:25Z")
> [@](#):
>
> IIRC, it was pointed out some where in the trilogy that if a force-sensitive person kills someone, that force sensitive person is caught in the force’s dark side.
H’uh? I don’t remember this being pointed out.
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### Author:  [@Q.E.D](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.E.D)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2004, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/3 "2004-03-09T07:16:12Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> H’uh? I don’t remember this being pointed out.
Nor do I. I _do_ recall Yoda’s quote “Hate, anger…the Dark Side are they”, but that’s not quite the same thing.
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### Author:  [@captainQwark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/captainQwark)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2004, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/4 "2004-03-09T07:20:33Z")
sorry, I’m mistaken. It’s been a while since I’ve watched the original trilogy.
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### Author:  [@sciguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sciguy)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2004, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/5 "2004-03-09T07:23:59Z")
> [@captainQwark](#):
>
> I’m just curious if anyone else has noticed this contradiction in the original **Star Wars** trilogy. IIRC, it was pointed out some where in the trilogy that if a force-sensitive person kills someone, that force sensitive person is caught in the force’s dark side. However, Luke kills a bunch of storm troopers in **ANH** and he remains (seemingly) in the good side. I just thought I’d point that out.
Not to mention the umpteen thousand military draftees on the Death Star when he dropped that torpedo down the exhaust vent.
This is ringing some vague bells related to some of the Expanded Universe stuff (books, comics, etc). But I’m thinking it had something to do with a person killing _with the Force_, deliberately and not in self-defense, that there were some consequences. So Luke blasting someone with his X-wing would be ok, but Vader Force-choking officer after officer probably wasn’t.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2004, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/6 "2004-03-09T07:27:45Z")
[Luke _did_ embrace the Dark Side](http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/lukeskywalker/?id=eu) – it’s just not covered in the movies.
> [@](#):
>
> Skywalker, realizing that the Emperor was almost invincible, knelt before him, and agreed to join the dark side.
>
> Like a few others in recorded history, Luke believed he could defeat the dark side from within by learning its secrets. He had neglected one of Yoda’s key teachings – never underestimate the power of the dark side. Skywalker, consumed by the darkness, found himself unable to break away from its pall. Though he succeeded in covertly sabotaging a number of Palpatine’s plans, he could not bring himself back to the light. With the help of his sister, however, Skywalker was able to turn against his master. Together, the Jedi twins were eventually able to defeat Palpatine once and for all.
(Boy, do I feel like a dork for knowing that.)
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2004, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/7 "2004-03-09T07:31:11Z")
(From Starwars.com)
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### Author:  [@Soapbox\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soapbox_Monkey)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2004, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/8 "2004-03-09T19:35:29Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#):
>
> [Luke _did_ embrace the Dark Side](http://www.starwars.com/databank/character/lukeskywalker/?id=eu) – it’s just not covered in the movies.(Boy, do I feel like a dork for knowing that.)
LOL!!! That’s the stupidest plot I’ve ever heard. I don’t even want to ASK how the Emperor came back, though I think I’ve heard the story before and it seemed EXTREMELY far fetched, even by Star Wars’ standards.
Thank God EU is completely irrelevant. 😛
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [March 9, 2004, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/9 "2004-03-09T20:44:27Z")
> [@](#):
>
> I don’t even want to ASK how the Emperor came back…
I guess I should have quoted the bit immediately before that. 😃
> [@](#):
>
> Palpatine would grow clone duplicates of his bodies to act as receptacles for his evil life force should his body die. With this technique, Palpatine had escaped death time and again. He called for Skywalker to kneel before him and become his apprentice.
I did a bit of digging and found that this is from the _[Dark Empire](http://www.starwars.com/eu/feature/20000405/)_ comic book series. (Never read it myself – apart from the games, the only EU stuff I ever looked into was _Splinter of the Mind’s Eye_, around 1982, I think. Oh, and the NPR radio series, if that counts as “EU.”)
Still, I wouldn’t dismiss it as _totally_ irrelevant. It coheres as well as the films do, anyway.
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### Author:  [@SPOOFE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SPOOFE)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/10 "2004-03-10T02:15:53Z")
Palpy came back not once, but TWICE in the Dark Empire series!
Actually, they give the retcon that Palpatine had cloned and recloned himself numerous times, as his immense Dark Side powers kept degrading his body. He’d just transfer his essence into a new body, and _voila!_
They made a movie about this, but for some reason, it was set on Earth, starred Arnold Schwarzenegger, and was called _The Sixth Day_. The TIE fighters looked really bad… more like helicopter/jet hybrid thingies instead. And don’t even start on how much of a weenie Darth Vader is… for some reason, he doesn’t have his mask, and they cut his foot off…
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### Author:  [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/11 "2004-03-10T02:26:25Z")
As long as there are a bunch of Star Wars fans in here, I’ve got a question that’s bugged me since I saw Episode I:
**What happens when a Jedi dies?**
Obi-Wan dies: Disappears into nothing
Yoda: Disappears into nothing
Vader: Body is left there for Luke to burn
So far, so good; good Jedis evaporate, bad ones stick around and stink up the place. _But_ when Qui-Gonn (sp?) dies, he’s left there for his death speech with young Obi-Wan. What’s the deal?
The only thing I can come up with is that Obi-Wan and Yoda were ready for death when it came (recall how Obi-Wan let his guard down and allowed Vader to kill him), while the red-faced guy just plain beat Qui-Gonn in the fight. Well, either that or Qui-Gonn was secretly on the Dark Side (which might explain his eagerness to recruit young Anakin).
C’mon, fans, what gives?
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### Author:  [@BraheSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BraheSilver)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/12 "2004-03-10T02:40:05Z")
If you’re only looking at the movies, it probably won’t be explained. My theory is that it’s a light side power but it’s a very big effort to completely evaporate into the Force. “For my last trick…”
Now why didn’t Qui-Gonn get his stuff together and do it? Perhaps he wasn’t a great Jedi. My other question is why Anakin gets to do it - did he evaporate? If so, did Luke burn just the empty suit of armor plus whatever mechanical implants were left?
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/13 "2004-03-10T02:44:38Z")
> [@jackelope](#):
>
> **What happens when a Jedi dies?**
> Vader: Body is left there for Luke to burn
>
> C’mon, fans, what gives?
Of course, most of Vader’s body was machine. Did Luke fill out an enviromental impact study?
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### Author:  [@AndrewL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndrewL)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/14 "2004-03-10T02:56:32Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#):
>
> Of course, most of Vader’s body was machine. Did Luke fill out an enviromental impact study?
I suspect that the measely few hundred pounds of artificial materials in Vader’s body were irrelevent next to the gigatons of Death Star burning up in the atmosphere.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/15 "2004-03-10T02:59:42Z")
> [@AndrewL](#):
>
> I suspect that the measely few hundred pounds of artificial materials in Vader’s body were irrelevent next to the gigatons of Death Star burning up in the atmosphere.
Mmmmmm…warm thoughts of crushed Ewoks.
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### Author:  [@Tarrsk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tarrsk)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/16 "2004-03-10T03:03:41Z")
> [@Larry Mudd](#):
>
> I guess I should have quoted the bit immediately before that. :DI did a bit of digging and found that this is from the _[Dark Empire](http://www.starwars.com/eu/feature/20000405/)_ comic book series. (Never read it myself – apart from the games, the only EU stuff I ever looked into was _Splinter of the Mind’s Eye_, around 1982, I think. Oh, and the NPR radio series, if that counts as “EU.”)
>
> Still, I wouldn’t dismiss it as _totally_ irrelevant. It coheres as well as the films do, anyway.
I wish the EU _was_ canon. God knows that the “Wraith Squadron” books and “Knights of the Old Republic” sure feel more like Star Wars than anything Lucas has come up with for the prequels.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/17 "2004-03-10T04:06:02Z")
Contradictions in the SW universe ain’t hard to find. Heck, you can spot 'em twelve parsecs away!
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### Author:  [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/18 "2004-03-10T04:15:48Z")
“Watch your mouth, kid, or you’re gonna find yourself floating home.”
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### Author:  [@HubZilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HubZilla)
#### Post date: [March 10, 2004, 7:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/19 "2004-03-10T07:45:07Z")
I always thought it was strange how the “honorable” jedis gang up on the bad guys 2-to-1. First Darth Maul and then Dooku. Talk about unfair.
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### Author:  [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2004, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/star-wars-contradiction/233268/20 "2004-03-11T02:37:56Z")
> [@Tarrsk](#):
>
> I wish the EU _was_ canon. God knows that the “Wraith Squadron” books and “Knights of the Old Republic” sure feel more like Star Wars than anything Lucas has come up with for the prequels.
Ah, another Wraith fan! Gotta spread the word.
**jackelope** -I believe the whole disappearing thing is supposed to be explained in Episode III.
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