Alternate Paths in the Star Wars Story?

One of the messages that I've felt Star Wars movies have always tried to express is that everything really happens on purpose; "in my experience, there is no such thing as luck", according to the Star Wars character Ben Kenobi. And I think that this is a very relevant message especially in regard to recent events.

There have been countless moments in Star Wars where a character's choice, life, or death have shaped the rest of the story. Can you name some of these events?
Which events in any of the 6 Star Wars movies shaped the rest of the story, and how could things have gone differently if something else happened?

I'll give a few examples in the below posts.

In Episode I: The Phantom Menace-

Damage to Qui Gon and Obi-Wan's starship hyperdrive caused them to make an emergency landing on Tatooine, where they discovered Anakin as a slave.

If there was no damage to the hyperdrive, the two Jedi would probably never have discovered Anakin. Fast forward - Palpatine would probably kill all of the Jedi with his clone army and there would be no Darth Vader to defeat the Emperor.

Anakin causing Mace Windu's death...once that had happened it was like going past the point of no return...his fate was sealed.

Another example in Episode I: The Phantom Menace -

Anakin wins the pod racing tournament and wins Watto's bet. He, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan get the parts to the ship and are able to continue their mission.

If Watto won the bet, Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan would have to give up their ship and work for Watto as indentured servants. Obi-Wan would not be able to live as a Jedi anymore, meaning that he would not be able to teach Luke decades later. Anakin would remain a slave and not have any influence in the story: Luke would never have been born, anyway.

V-Tog wrote: Anakin causing Mace Windu's death...once that had happened it was like going past the point of no return...his fate was sealed.

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Also, think about what would happen if Mace actually ended up killing Palpatine. The Jedi would take control of the Senate "in order to secure a peaceful transition". Then, probably, the Jedi would take over politics and become corrupt. Then, there might be a split within the Jedi Order where one group wants to return to non-partisan ways, while the other wants to secure political control. There is a Jedi Civil War. Many are killed, including all the main characters. Then, either the pro-politics Jedi win, and create a "Jedi Empire", or the traditionalists win, and try to restore an injured Jedi Order.

There's a comic series based on this. In Empire, Han doesn't find Luke in time on Hoth. Obi-Wan's Force ghost sends him and Leia to Dagobah so she can be a Jedi.

Just trying to think of all the effects a single ripple can create is daunting...

Every decision, every act, every nonact all have consequences...

Here's another.

In episode IV, the death of Luke's Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru cause Luke to become more free and open with the Jedi path, which eventually leads to his many acts of heroism and influence in the galaxy.

People don't realize this: did you know that Luke was originally planning on joining the Empire? :ohmy:

While talking to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, Luke discusses his intentions to go join his friends at the Imperial Academy.


So if Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru didn't die, and Obi-Wan was unsuccessful in convincing Luke to follow the Jedi path, we might have seen Luke as a stormtrooper! :huh:


It's a bit awful to think that the death of an innocent couple is absolutely necessary. However, life is strange, isn't it? Sometimes, these types of situations arise - even in real life!

He seemed excited to think of the droids as having something to do with the Rebellion, though. Maybe he'd've taken Biggs' path and gone to the Academy, learned how to be a pilot and then jumped ship.

what if...a game i have played intensely over my life as an addict of fantastic literature.

I believe that the Star Wars fiction is a good mythology since it is so relevant to our values in the now. It speaks to us in much more direct terms than many other mythologies. It taps into the collective ambitions for a future, the collective common sense of spiritual ideas and the collective ontology of a multi-cultural secularised society. Force Realism is a powerful philosophical framework.
Seeing the mythology in a series of 'what ifs' is useful when we consider that the story by design did follow a prophecised destined path which centred on the hopes of free will, with a recognition of human frailty. For me the Star Wars mythology is fascinating because harnesses our society's collective unconscious convinctions by what did happen in the story when it could have been so very different by any number of events.

Wasn't it very convenient and fortunate for Obi-Wan to find this random handle?




:laugh: