10 Greatest Unspoken Star Wars Movie Plot Points

Star Wars is such a gargantuan franchise at this point that it's basically impossible for any single movie to say and do everything a filmmaker wants to incorporating every character, location, and event. That means something to fans. And so, perhaps more than any other IP in history, Star Wars does a lot of its storytelling on the periphery, slyly revealing fascinating plot points in the background, whether through implication or clever visual signposting. So let's take a look at some of the best today. As I'm Jules, this is what culture com and these are the 10 Greatest Unspoken Star Wars Movie Plot Points. The real reason for R2D2's disobedience? The Empire Strikes Back. You'll probably remember that in The Empire Strikes Back, R2D2 demonstrates a habit of disobeying Luke Skywalker's orders to stay put and remain with the ship. Now, while at first glance there seems nothing more than R2D2 being an amusingly independent minded Droid who wants to help his charge complete his mission, the much sadder truth is actually subtly explained in the prequels In Revenge of the Sith. When Anakin touches down on Mustafa with R2IN tow, he tells R2 to stay with the ship. Except in this case, R2 obeys Anakin's request, only for Anakin to subsequently become Darth Vader and never return to R2. This in turn seemingly caused R2 to develop some understandable abandonment issues, and so in the events of the original trilogy, he's not about to sit still and wait around for a human who may or may not abandon him. Again, while we can technically put this down to George Lucas developing the plot point in retrospect, in the prequels it's still totally effective in explaining R2's distaste for compliance #9 Django Fett's damaged backpack Attack of the Clones. One of the most memorable moments in Attack of the Clones is the absolutely savage death of Django Fett, who is swiftly decapitated, helmet and all, by a lightsaber swiped from Mace Windu during the Battle of Genosis. Now many fans have questions over the years why Django didn't use his jetpack to either fly away or outmanoeuvre Windu, but instead he just seemed to, well, just stand there and wait to be beheaded. Well, the answer is actually clear if you look a little closer at the scene. Because if you remember that just a few moments before his brawl with Windu, Drango is trampled by a runaway reek. And if you keep an eye on Django's bag, sparks are emanating from his jetpack. And so with a broken jetpack, Django was unable to hastily flee from Windu or avoid his brutal demise. But it is a fun fact for you. The sparks weren't actually included in the theatrical release of the film, but after many fans complained about Django just standing around waiting to die, Lucas added in these sparks to try and clarify things. And yet it still apparently mystifies a lot of people #8 The last thing that Obi Wan sees is Luke and Leia reunited A New Hope. If you call yourself even a casual Star Wars fan, the death of Obi Wan Kenobi is basically seared into your mind. And yet it's easy to miss a pivotal detail that's basically hiding in plain sight. Obi Wan, of course, sacrifices himself during the lightsaber duel with Darth Vader, in turn allowing the heroes to escape the Death Star. But if you take a closer look at Obi Wan in his final moments, you'll observe that he only lets his guard down after first seeing Luke and Leia making their escape. Obi Wan even lets out a wry smile and the seconds before that ends him, meaning the last thing that he sees before laying down his life is Luke and Leia, the twins that he separated at birth 19 years earlier, finally reunited. And while it's no secret that George Lucas hadn't planned out that Luke and Leia were siblings at this point of shooting, and this really is more of a case of serendipity at play, it still works perfectly for the story that was ultimately told #7 The Tragedy of Rats, The Phantom Menace and now we sing The Ballad of Poor Rats, an extremely minor character in The Phantom Menace, nevertheless has a low key heartbreaking arc in the middle of this film. You see, Rats is a pod racing pilot glimpsed a few brief times during the movies pod racing sequence, namely at his moment of death in the second lap of the Bunta Eve classic, Rats can be seen letting out a scream as his pod crashes into a stalactite and explodes into a fireball which kills him instantly. Now though, the scene swiftly moves on and the audience isn't invited to actively think about rats ever again. Keep your eyes peeled when Qui Gon Jinn talks to Wato about Anakin after under the race. In the background, a couple of tiny alien creatures can be seen walking around mournfully, and one of the film's deleted scenes reveals these characters to be Rats's wife and children, who were in attendance for the race and presumably saw him die. Not so fun fact from the wider Star Wars universe. One of Rats's sons, Delland, went on to found the Rats Foundation and became a lobbyist to heighten the dangers of pod racing, successfully having it banned on many planets throughout the Galaxy. Number Six, Why Darth Vader Stomped Boba Fed From Killing Chewy The Empire Strikes Back. Now a question that's bugged fans ever since the release of The Empire Strikes Back is why Darth Vader stops Boba Fett from shooting Chewbacca in the film's climax as Han Solo is being encased in carbonite. You see, Fete goes to shoot Chewie, but Vader lifts up his hand and stops him from firing, A seemingly bizarre move that has seen fans perform Olympic level mental gymnastics in an attempt to explain. Some assumed that Vader didn't want to risk an errant blaster shot ruining the carbonite, or perhaps he simply had a sense of humour about dealing with his prisoners. But 2020's Canon comic Darth Vader #12 finally lends context to Vader's actions, revealing that he wanted to keep Luke's friends alive to demonstrate the carefully controlled power that he could exert over the Rebels. It's certainly a better outcome than just trying to come up with a convoluted reasoning for why Vader might specifically want to keep Chewy alive, so it really is just a Machiavellian feat of psychological warfare on his behalf. #5 Dryden Voss's decraniated slaves, Solo, now solo. A Star Wars Story may be awash in the nose fan service, but it also offered up some more subdued world building and plotting, such as providing a further glimpse at the decraniated. The Android looking individuals with half a head were first briefly seen in Jeddah in Rogue One. In Solo, we see that the villain Dryden Voss is using the decraniated as servants, and while that might seem harmless enough if they are indeed androids, the visual guide for Rogue One reveals that definitely isn't the case. In fact, the decraniated are injured humours who were kidnapped and experimented on by Few surgeon Cornelius Evazan, who had a famous encounter with Luke and Obi Wan in the Moss Isley Cantina in A New Hope before making a brief reappearance in Rogue One. We can infer from the decraniated appearance that their heads were cut in half and replaced with robotic enhancements in a procedure that was clearly not in any way consensual. This is easily one of the most horrific unspoken aspects of Star Wars law. I mean, after all, who expects to see a Cronenbergian body horror in a supposedly family friendly sci-fi blockbuster franchise? Of all #4, General Grievous hides his cough from Palpatine Revenge of the Sith. Beyond being a four armed Cyborg, the most distinctive thing about Revenge of the Sith Separatist commander General Grievous is his distinctive asthmatic cough. The 2003 Clone Wars series revealed this to be the result of lung damage inflicted upon him during a battle with Mace Windu. Though this technically is not Canon anymore. All the same, a small but intriguing character flourish is noticeable when he speaks with Palpatine's hologram, because as he loudly clears his throat before connecting the call. Given that Grievous doesn't seem bothered about coughing in front of anyone else, we can infer that he basically wants to conceal his cough from Palpatine as much as possible, maybe through a fear of him looking air quotes weak in his presence. It speaks not only to Palpatine's fearsome standing, but more curiously, Grievous's own insecurity about his cough and how it might present him to others, especially those in positions of authority above him. #3 Harrison Dula took part in the Battle of Scariff Rogue One. Now, Easter eggs are nothing new to the world of Star Wars, though sometimes a reference that might seem throwaway to casual fans actually has far more intriguing implications for the Die Hard set. Case in point, during Rogue One's climactic battle on Scarf, keen eyed fans may have spotted the Ghost, the ship owned by Sindula, one of the main characters from the Star Wars Rebels animated series. Between this and the fact that an announcer can be heard calling the name General Sindula on Yavin 4 in one scene, the clear implication is that she took part in the Battle of Scarf. While we only we got to see a few shots of the ghost in action during the battle, it was simply neat enough to know that such a beloved Star Wars character was in the mix and helping out at the time of Rogue One's release. This Easter Egg was a bit of a double edged sword though, as it effectively left her fate hanging in the balance. Thankfully, though, Rebels's final episode ultimately revealed that she went on to fight in the Battle of Endor, confirming her survival at Scarif #2 Darth Plagueis's ashes are stored outside of Palpatine's office. Revenge of the Sith. You may or may not recall that outside of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine's office sits 2 impractically large black vases which are placed either side of the door. To the casual observer, these vases would appear to be merely ornamental, though the 2012 reference book Star Wars Beware the Sith reveals that these vases are actually Spirit Urns. Canonically, these Urns have been used to store important items, and in this case, Beware the Sith reveals one of them to contain the ashen remains a Palpatine's own departed Master, Darth Plagueis. That's certainly a bold move on Palpatine's part, and though Beware the Sith is technically now part of Star Wars's Legends continuity, like most Legends Law fans are free to debate whether or not it is Canon until explicitly stated within the new Canon. Given that the Spirit earns are also mentioned in 2017's Visual Encyclopedia book, which is now 100% Canon, it seems unlikely that their status as plague as his final resting place will ever be directly contradicted in any new Star Wars media. And #1 Obi Wan taught Luke how to get the high ground Return of the Jedi. Now this is one of those plot points that splits fans right down the middle. You see during Darth Vader's battle with Luke in Return of the Jedi, you'll recall that Vader looks up at Luke, who is standing in an elevated position and says Obi Wan has taught you well. Well, looking at the movies today, it's hard not to view this as a nodding towards the event of Revenge of the Sith where Obi Wan gets the high ground against Anakin during their very fiery and fateful duel on Mustafa. While it's a simple fact, The Return was of course made more than 20 years before Revenge, it's conceivable that George Lucas came up with this now meme worthy high ground motif to lend greater importance to Vader's original comment. Sure, Vader could simply be talking about Luke's general combat aptitude as a result of training with Obi Wan, but it makes all the sense in the world that Obi Wan would teach Luke to get the high ground against an opponent. It's blatant revisionism, but it also fits perfectly. And then we get my friends. Those were ten of the greatest unspoken Star Wars movie plot points. I hope that you enjoyed that and please let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section below. As always, I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Twitter at Retro J with a 0, or you can swing by live and let's Dykes, where I do all of my streaming and Warhammer Battle reports outside of work. And it'd be great to see you over there. But before I go, I just want to say one thing. I'm not going to let this moment be unspoken. And that is if you, my friend, listening to this video should be kind to yourself both mentally and physically, because you deserve all of the best things in life and do not let anything or anyone else tell you otherwise. All right? You're a massive legend. I want you to go out there and absolutely smash it. Today I believe in you as always. I've been Jules, you have been awesome. Never forget that and I'll speak to you soon. Bye.