Star Wars thriller from George Lucas left followers confused for 25 years

For the reason that earliest days of the franchise, Star Wars has been stuffed with thriller and surprise. George Lucas started as he supposed to go on, too, by introducing one of the crucial enduring mysteries within the very first movie, A New Hope (merely titled Star Wars upon its launch).

In 1977, when Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope was launched, we had completely zero information of the Jedi or Sith. However there would have been no larger thriller on the time, followers have identified, than the Clone Wars, which is first talked about within the authentic movie.

“Throughout the scene with Luke and Obi-Wan in A New Hope, outdated Ben says he fought within the Clone Wars with Anakin,” wrote a consumer on the r/starwarsspeculation Reddit web page. “It wasn’t till 2002 that followers had any clue as to what the Clone Wars had been. So what did OG Star Wars followers suppose they had been?”

It’s a good query —we’re properly versed within the Lucas Lore by now (due to the numerous Star Wars sequence and our numerous re-watches of the Star Wars motion pictures so as), however again in ’77, followers would’ve heard the reference to the now legendary canon occasion and gone: “Huh?”

Nicely, the query sparked a wave of responses from followers who’d seen the unique installment earlier than the onslaught of recent Star Wars motion pictures, and it’s clear that the point out of the Clone Wars left followers stumped again within the day.

“Noticed it again within the early ’80s and thought it was a eugenics factor the place clones had been like an entire tradition that fought in opposition to usually made individuals,” wrote consumer PracticableSolution.

Elsewhere, some had fully totally different interpretations of the phrase “clone”, with BlackWidow1414 writing: “I used to be a toddler at that time, and that was the primary time I’d heard the phrase “clone.” I had no clue what a clone was. I simply assumed it was the title of the warfare(s), like Civil Struggle or Revolutionary Struggle.”

“I assumed armies used fast-growing clones as troopers as a result of they had been decimating the inhabitants, and it wasn’t sustainable to kill off that many individuals. So that they padded the ranks with clones, and fairly quickly the armies had been all clones, killing one another en masse,” mentioned ohdearitsrichardiii.

In fact, any Star Wars fan value their salt is aware of the Clone Wars was a three-year battle between the Jedi order and the Separatists…however it was really additionally a secret plot hatched by essentially the most formidable Star Wars villain, Palpatine, to wipe out the Jedi. However we didn’t know that once we first noticed A New Hope, so this begs the query: what did we suppose the Clone Wars had been?

Nicely, I can’t converse for the remainder of The Digital Repair, however I used to be teetering on an identical idea to PracticableSolution once I first stumbled onto the franchise many years later, taking the time period “clone” a lot too actually. I assumed the Clone Wars was a battle between clone individuals and their counterparts, not realizing it was named after the Clone Troopers utilized by the Military of the Republic.

Whereas we don’t know if Lucas himself even had an thought of what the Clone Wars can be about when he first made reference to it in A New Hope, we do know that he would later use the Clone Wars to discover themes of political energy and blurred strains between good and evil — concepts that continued all through the saga.

“That’s the problem that I’ve been exploring: How did the Republic flip into the Empire?” he mentioned [via Time Magazine]. “That’s paralleled with: How did Anakin flip into Darth Vader? How does an excellent particular person go unhealthy, and the way does a democracy turn out to be a dictatorship? It isn’t that the Empire conquered the Republic; it’s that the Empire is the Republic.”

Lots of the greatest Star Wars characters have encountered the fallout of the Clone Wars over time. Why not take a look at a number of the greatest motion pictures of all time to see what different fictional conflicts exist? It’s also possible to get to know the unique Star Wars forged. We’ve additionally bought guides on Andor season 2 and The Acolyte launch date. For a protracted learn, take a look at our function on why The Final Jedi is (nonetheless) the perfect Star Wars film.