11 Popular Star Wars Fan Theories Debunked

"Star Wars" fans are distinguished by their love of battles — not the ones with flashing lightsabers, but those with one another. From the beginning, the serial nature of the films has encouraged speculation, prediction, and theory-mongering, which naturally lead to heated debates between the franchise's most ardent followers.

However, thanks to an ever-shifting canon and that good friend of the human brain, confirmation bias, it's easy to misunderstand "Star Wars" media. The mythical nature of "Star Wars" invites widely varying understandings of its stories and main players. That's part of its staying power, but it can also split the fanbase. While fan theories might make for excellent YouTube videos, there's a thin but definite line between the intent of the screenwriters, directors, and actors, and simple wishful thinking.

Further complicating the issue is that Disney decanonized entire swaths of novels, video games, and comics after it purchased Lucasfilm in 2012. But, as "Star Wars" fans know better than just about anyone, no one's ever really gone. Various characters, objects, and places from the old "Expanded Universe" began to seep into new canon material. That means certain parts of Star Wars lore once relegated to high-level fan fiction have been resurrected, although the storylines that originally surrounded them haven't. 

This, fueled by the instant reach of social media, has created a fantasy world as chaotic and contradictory as the real one. In other words, the Star Wars universe is a breeding ground for wild fan theories, many of which don't pan out when you examine the details. Here are 11 Star Wars fan theories that caught fire, then were extinguished forthwith.

The Theory: Palpatine, who managed to control both sides of an entire war for years in order to take over the Republic, also allowed the Rebellion to grow to give him an excuse to clamp down on uprisings. His only mistake was his inability to predict that his own apprentice would throw him down a reactor shaft. Also, Ewoks. The poor dolt didn't plan for the Ewoks.

The Reality: Palpatine might have welcomed the Rebel Alliance as a useful excuse to exert his power, he didn't necessarily create or nurture it. The core of the Rebellion was formed by Bail Organa and Mon Mothma, queen of the sensible caftan. In the early days of the Rebellion, certain cells, like Saw Gerrera's, used terrorist tactics, which caused a great deal of moral agonizing amongst its leaders. This was illustrated in "The Clone Wars" and "Rebels."

Palpatine did control the Separatist movement, but he had a man on the inside: Count Dooku, who did his bidding as a Sith apprentice. Palpatine had no such hook-up in the Rebellion. Unless Organa and Mothma were playing some shocking game of eight-dimensional chess that we don't know about, Palpatine's fatal flaw was that he underestimated the Rebel Alliance and the degree to which the light side of the Force would re-assert itself in Anakin.

The Theory: There are two Luke Skywalkers. There's Prime Luke, who we know, and then there's one created by Palpatine from DNA harvested from the hand Luke lost on Bespin. The cloning theory explains why Luke's personality seems to have changed so drastically between the end of "Return of the Jedi" and "The Force Awakens," and provides a reason why Luke appears to stand at different heights throughout the original trilogy. 

In the "Thrawn Trilogy," the series of novels that kickstarted the old Expanded Universe, Palpatine created a clone of Luke named — yes, this is real — Luuke. Since Thrawn and other characters from those books have been pulled into the current continuity, it stands to reason that the clone might've survived as well.

The Reality: We don't really know yet. The "Thrawn Trilogy" was wiped out with the rest of the EU in 2014, and while some elements of it have reappeared in the new canon, Luuke doesn't seem to be among them. In issue 11 of Marvel's latest in-canon "Darth Vader" series, Vader stares at a hand in a tube-like device on Exegol, where the Snoke clones were created. Palpatine says that he's able to "use it to make anything." The implication is that this is Luke's hand, but we don't know for sure. Maybe the comic is setting the table for a major shake up in the Star Wars universe ... or maybe it's just a hand in a jar.

As for the apparent height discrepancies in the original trilogy, that's a completely different rabbit hole. Known as the "Bigger Luke Theory," it posits that Luke was sometimes played by an actor other than Mark Hamill. Look it up; we'll see you in a few years when you climb back out.

The Theory: Obi-Wan Kenobi, who would know, describes the stormtrooper's aim as "precise." As such, Han, Leia, and Luke were allowed to escape the Death Star so that the Empire could track the Millennium Falcon. This ploy included instructing stormtroopers to miss the trio on purpose as they ran through the moon-sized battle station. 

The reality: 'Tis mere plot armor. The real problem might be that stormtroopers don't seem to have training outside of their pre-designated specialties. When accuracy was needed, for example, the Empire enlisted Imperial Marksmen; we know this because Bill Burr's Mayfield angrily objects on "The Mandalorian" when referred to as a mere stormtrooper. There's also a scene-long inside joke in episode 8 of "The Mandalorian" featuring two biker scouts who shoot at a nearby object and miss — a lot.

It could also be their equipment. Standard-issue blasters, like the ones carried by the troopers who encountered the Rebel heroes on the Death Star, don't seem particularly calibrated for precision shooting. In addition, stormtroopers' helmets obstruct their view. Rex confirms this in "Rebels" when he fails to hit the broad side of a space barn while wearing one; after Ezra teases him about it, the helmet is cast aside and the targets easily hit.

The Theory: Poe's incredible piloting skills are akin to Anakin's tremendous podracing abilities in that the Force allows him to see what's about to happen before it actually took place. Poe's parents had an adventure with Luke Skywalker in "Star Wars: Shattered Empire," after which Luke gave them a tree to plant at their home on Yavin. According to Luke, this sapling, a cutting from the tree at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, was strong in the Force; perhaps some of that ability flowed into young Poe as he played near it or ate some of its fruit.

The Reality: Nah, Poe's just that good. There's much more to good piloting than fast reflexes. We know that Poe's mother, Shara, was a pilot, and that she trained him from childhood in her A-Wing. Poe was then tutored by original series ace Wedge Antilles. An early start in the cockpit, combined with natural ability and skilled mentors, easily explains how Poe became the best pilot in the galaxy. It's also entirely possible to be a hotshot pilot without the Force — there's Han Solo, for one, and Din Djarin's not so bad behind the controls himself.

Poe and Rey discuss Poe's possible Force-sensitivity in Marvel's "Poe Dameron" #27, but Poe shuts the idea down. "If I had it, I think I'd know," he says. So, while he may have a sense as to what the Force feels like — it's a mystical energy field that binds every sentient being together, including Poe — he doesn't have the innate ability to use it. Besides, as the prequels made perfectly clear, Force-sensitivity is tied to a high midi-chlorian count, which is passed on genetically. We know Poe's parents, and they don't seem to have Force abilities. Odds are, Poe doesn't, either.

The Theory: Qui-Gon states that Anakin was created by the midi-cholorians, but maybe he's so strong in the Force because Palpatine manipulated Shmi Skywalker's womb. She claims that Anakin has no father either because this was done without her knowledge, or because she was mind-wiped by the Force. This was seemingly confirmed in Marvel's 2018 comic "Darth Vader" #25, in which Vader sees a vision of Palpatine looming over an expectant Shmi, suggesting that Palpatine influenced her pregnancy. Shmi's eyes even shift affectionately towards Palpatine, indicating that this could've happened with her consent. 

The Reality: It absolutely looks like Palpatine is grinning triumphantly as Shmi Skywalker cradles her pregnant midsection. However, all the action in this scene takes place in Anakin's head; it's not necessarily a vision of what really happened.

Still, this panel caused enough of a kerfuffle online that Matt Martin, a member of the Lucasfilm Story Group, stepped in with a tweet to clarify the situation. "It's part of my job to ensure the [comic] stories are aligned with the overall vision of 'Star Wars,'" Martin wrote. "If the intention was to make a direct connection between Palps and Anakin's birth, I would have had it removed." And so, millions of "Star Wars" YouTube channels were suddenly silenced.

Yeah, the image is pretty misleading. But that's the point: The Dark Side is not to be trusted.