Watching Return of the Jedi after The Empire Strikes Back can feel a bit like an emotional letdown. All of the narrative complexities of the previous installment change from an introspective and gritty tragedy to a more cathartic closing act to George Lucas’s science fiction opus. Instinctively we know that good must triumph over evil in the Star Wars Saga, but Return of the Jedi can make it feel less earned.
The problem may lie in some major plotholes that appear along the way, some bigger than others. The film begins with an escape plan that seems very much dependent on all its moving parts barely functioning. Then there’s the fact that we’re expected to understand that the Empire’s Imperial Infantry is bested by bears with spears. Read on for 10 major plot holes you missed while watching Return of the Jedi.
LUKE’S PLAN IS KIND OF LAME
At the start of Return of the Jedi, we see C-3PO and R2-D2 making their way cautiously up the road to Jabba the Hutt’s palace. They’ll present themselves as gifts and infiltrate the palace where Han is already incognito as a palace guard. It’s all part of the master plan constructed by Luke Skywalker when he finally gets to show up.
Threepio becomes Jabba’s interpreter, and R2 becomes a cocktail waiter. Luke’s plan amounts to - get captured (actually, get everyone captured), wind up starring over the gaping maw of the Sarlacc, and then just hope that R2 isn’t too far away from your skiff to launch his hidden lightsaber. Also, pray to the Force it doesn’t fall into the Sarlacc pit instead. This is the plan they spent five months coming up with?
THE SCOUT TROOPERS HAVE NO RADIOS AND ZERO PERIPHERAL VISION
You would think that instead of being forced to cover miles of foreign terrain on a strange planet filled with inhabitants that don’t like your presence, you’d install some radio transmitters in your helmets. But the Empire couldn’t spring for such luxuries, making their scout troopers have to use speeder-bikes to transmit ideas the old-fashioned way.
So there they go, zig-zagging between gargantuan trees and drawing the blaster fire of Rebels, all because they need to talk to the main base about something. And speaking of going incredibly fast, why not put windcatchers on the side of the helmets to ensure zero peripheral vision? Sounds like a great plan.
BRINGING A GOLDENROD TO A GUNFIGHT
Not too many hands shot up when General Madine was asking for volunteers to lead the stealth mission on Endor. Luckily, Han Solo was feeling feisty, and he got Luke and Leia along for the ride. Do you know what makes a stealth mission perfect? A giant golden giveaway.
While the rest of the Rebel ground troops appear in camouflage, with the occasional painted face and helmet to obscure their identity, they also have a literal golden rod sticking out like a gundark’s ear. Did Madine know that there would be locals on the planet that Threepio would need to interpret? Probably not, since Leia was surprised to find Wicket on Endor at all.
WAS OBI-WAN KENOBI BRAINWASHING LUKE?
In Return of the Jedi, Luke finally returns to Dagobah to finish the training with Master Yoda he so recklessly abandoned in the previous film. He finds Yoda on his deathbed and leaves his hut with more questions than answers. That is until the ghost of ‘Ol Ben comes to haunt him.
This is where we get the “certain point of view” speech, where Obi-Wan tries to backpedal on willfully withholding imperative information surrounding Darth Vader’s true identity as Anakin Skywalker, Luke’s father. Obi-Wan knew it the whole time and omitted it to ensure that Luke would do what he was supposed to do - kill his father. It’s really pretty twisted when you think about it.
THE IMPERIAL INFANTRY IS BESTED BY TEDDY BEARS
When an original draft of the script called for the Empire to be taking on the wookiees of Kashyyyk, their defeat would have been warranted. Instead, due to budget constraints, the wookiees were turned into small bears with spears, rocks, arrows, and nets.
While stormtroopers aren’t always known for their marksmanship, they’re still part of the Imperial Infantry, which has subjugated entire star systems under the will of the Emperor. They have superior armor, tactics, and tactical artillery and battle vehicles. They should not have been so easily vanquished by Ewoks with rudimentary technology.
DOES IT COME IN TAN?
In the time it takes Han, Luke, and Chewie to not be barbecued by the Ewoks at C-3PO’s royal decree, Leia appears sporting a very Bohemian look at the Ewok village. She’s literally let all her hair down and appears to have gone “full native” in the short time she’s been adopted by the tribe.
Did the Ewoks just happen to have something human sized lying around? Did Ewok seamstresses whip that up for her the minute she stepped foot in the village? Why would she eschew her camouflage and gear to rock a peasant dress in the middle of a war?
DEATH STAR TAKE TWO
Return of the Jedi goes to great lengths to establish there is a shield that’s being generated from the Forest Moon of Endor to encircle the second Death Star hovering above it. Luke, Han, Leia, and Chewie are tasked with dismantling it so the Rebel Fleet can penetrate its defenses with their arsenal.
The shield does go down as expected, but here’s a thought; what genius Imperial engineer designed this superweapon with the same weakness that ended up getting its predecessor destroyed? It has yet another straight shot to its reactor for any trigger-happy space jockey to take out the whole thing.
THE EMPEROR’S NEW ARROGANCE
While entertaining an audience with the Emperor, Luke is subject to a lengthy monologue from the arrogant Sith Lord. It could be one of the best villain monologues in cinematic history, because the Emperor reveals exactly why he did the evil things he did, their intended results, and the manipulation he was doing to the young Jedi even at that very moment.
Like all great villains, he has a great deal of hubris, which causes him to explain that it was he who gave the location of the shield generator to the Rebels in the hopes of enticing them to Endor. But why? So Lucas can have a ground battle and a space battle? He could have simply announced he was building a second Death Star and the Rebels would have come to blow it up.
NUCLEAR FALLOUT
If the Death Star actually exploded in such low orbit over Endor, it would rain a metric ton of debris, ash, and radiation over everything. Not only would it absolutely kill some Ewoks, but it would also erode the plant life throughout the forest. Any creature that survived that initial storm would have a nuclear-winter to look forward to, with no food and no breathable air.
But of course, the Ewoks are all partying it up, testing out their percussive abilities on stormtrooper helmets, and generally unconcerned about the fact that something the size of a small moon was just blown out of the sky and onto their arboreal residence.
WHY DO WE SEE A YOUNG ANAKIN FORCE GHOST?
In the original version of Return of the Jedi, when Darth Vader redeems himself through the Light Side of the Force, he is able to appear as a Force Ghost to Luke on Endor. He appears as he did unmask, an older man, played by actor Sebastian Shaw.
In the Special Edition version, George Lucas had the scene changed, and instead of Shaw standing beside the Force ghosts of Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda, who look as they did when they died, we see a young Anakin Skywalker, whom Luke wouldn’t be able to recognize. If Anakin was redeemed in the moments before he died, why would he need to be “reset” as a Force Ghost?
