Ten Greatest Retcons from Star Wars TV Series and Movies
Over the years, Star Wars Movies and TV episodes have brought a lot of retcons—some more successful than others—but these ten are the absolutely greatest. Retcons abound in the franchise Star Wars, and these ten are the absolute best ones seen in both movies and TV episodes. Retcons abound in the franchise since the Star Wars chronology moves throughout time rather than in one sequence. Actually, this started even in the first trilogy, where most of the significant narrative turns were essentially retcons—decisions taken later on.
Though the word retcon has a bad connotation, especially as of late in the franchise, it may refer to amazing character developments and narratives. Actually, several of Star Wars' better films feature significant retcons. These ten of the several retcons in Star Wars are the best of all the ones.
There existed a perfect female clone.
Coming quite a long distance from their little position in the prequel trilogy, which saw them as little more than soldiers, the clones have had an amazing ride in Star Wars. Star Wars: The Clone Wars started this trip with clones taking front stage. Actually, Captain Rex became a fan favorite really fast. But Star Wars: The Bad Batch went one step farther, concentrating just on the story of the clones—more especially, Clone Force 99.
Along with this arc, The Bad Batch retconned the clone narrative to feature an unaltered female clone, Omega. Although some might have objected to this inclusion, retcon turned out to provide one of the most exquisite Star Wars narratives. With time, Omega—especially Hunter—became the daughter of Clone Force 99 really. The Bad Batch stunned audiences with its very rare happy ending for these clones as well. Omega was also confirmed to be joining the Rebellion in The Bad Batch conclusion, hence Star Wars could potentially see her returning.
Ventress Reversed From The Dead
Apart from introducing Omega, The Bad Batch also featured the fleeting comeback of Asajj Ventress, a hugely popular Clone Wars figure who was previously Count Dooku's killer but subsequently turned bounty hunter. Ventress arrived with yellow lightsabers, suggesting a probable return to the light side of the Force, therefore it seemed excitingly that she had developed even more since then. Ventress' eagerness to test Omega in the Force added still more support.
Ventress will reportedly return in an unknown forthcoming Star Wars show or film. This also was a retcon since Christie Golden's canon book Dark Disciple had Ventress die. Seeing Ventress return to Star Wars was exciting all the same even though The Bad Batch omitted explaining how Ventress returned from the dead. Furthermore, it has been stated that Ventress would return in an unannounced future Star Wars show or film, so indicating her tale is not yet finished.
The Death Star Was Weakened For Designed Use
From the very start of the saga, one of the story aspects that doesn't make sense is why Luke Skywalker could readily destroy the Death Star in A New Hope. Indeed, he used the Force, but it also required very little work for this amazing super weapon to be detonated. Fortunately, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story developed a superb justification.
Galen Erso and Jyn Erso were first presented in Rogue One as an estranged father and daughter duo, Galen having been compelled to return the Empire and work on the Death Star. Jyn had lost faith in him, but Galen showed that he had never really adopted the Imperial methods as he purposefully created a weakness into the Death Star. Galen was able to get this material to the Rebels with Jyn's assistance, therefore guaranteeing that, ultimately, they could destroy it.
Survived The Phantom Menace, dimdark
Though Star Wars is starting to show a somewhat troubling trend in bringing dead characters back to life (Palpatine, Ventress, and Boba Fett, for example), the reappearance of Darth Maul in The Clone Wars was really a good retcon. This is partially because to Star Wars so deftly building on his narrative, which makes it reasonable that Maul would have fallen down a reactor shaft and been chopped in two. Though with his comeback, The Clone Wars greatly enhanced Maul's narrative, despite his spider legs.
Apart from expressing his resentment about being replaced so rapidly by Darth Sidious, Maul turned out to be a quite strong opponent for the Jedi even outside the dynamic between Sith master and disciple. At one time, Maul even effectively seized Mandalore, regrettably killing Satine Kryze, Obi-Wan's love interest, in the course of events. With a huge arc in Star Wars Rebels and an appearance in Solo: A Star Wars Story, Maul's contribution has persisted even beyond that.
Siblings Luke and Leia were
Given their kiss in The Empire Strikes Back, the revelation in Return of the Jedi that Luke and Leia were actually twins was shockingly unexpected. Long term, though, having Luke and Leia twins paid off for generations. First of all, it greatly influenced the prequels, which helped to explain the bond between Anakin and Padmé (however, so did the startling turn of events whereby Vader was indeed Luke's father).
Over decades, having Luke and Leia twins paid dividends for generations. That meant, nevertheless, that the following trilogy carried on Luke and Leia's romance. Although the sequel received mostly negative reaction and reviews, it was nevertheless significant to see Luke and Leia reunited. Since both Luke and Leia appeared as Force ghosts to Rey on Tatooine, the sequel even proved that, at last Luke and Leia were joined in the Force.
Obi- Wan Got To Know Leia During Her Young Years
As she named her son Ben Solo, after him (or at least his alias from when he was hiding on Tatooine during the Dark Times), one of the strangest story holes the second trilogy produced questioned why Leia cared so much about Obi-Wan Ezekiary. Given all Obi-Wan had done and intended for Luke, it was Luke who called his baby Ben in Legends that made most sense. Given her little contacts with him throughout the original trilogy, Leia seemed not very justified in choosing that name.
One of the strangest narrative gaps the sequel trilogy produced was challenging why Leia cared so much about Obi-Wan Kenobi. Furthermore, the prequels had shown that Obi-Wan had just briefly seen Leia upon birth, therefore it looked the two had no further relationship. But Obi-Wan Ezek shown that there was indeed much more between them—he saved Leia several times when she was just ten years old. This was the ideal approach to handle the decision on the sequel trilogy, and it meant some quite fascinating extra Star Wars material centered on Luke, Leia, and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
Inhibitor Chips explained why the clones betrayed the Jedi.
Particularly since it still wasn't clear why the clones would betray their Jedi so mercilessly, the horrors of Order 66 became so much more profound after The Clone Wars started to show the humanity of the clones and their link with their Jedi. Still, The Clone Wars also fully exposed the actual cause and helped to lessen some of the suffering this catastrophe caused. The clones were intended to destroy the Jedi once Order 66 was carried out, hence they had no capacity to halt it instead of actually turning on the Jedi.
For the clones, who were working against their own choice, this made the narrative rather more tragic, yet it also oddly reassuring. Given personalities like Rex, it felt at times like the clones' attitudes toward their Jedi were false—which was especially tragic. This retcon, however, provided some respite since it showed the clones' actual lack of choice in their activities.
Faced Off Before A New Hope: Darth Vader and Obi-Wan
Like Obi- Wan having further background with Leia in Obi-Wan Kenobi, Obi- Wan also had a brand-new meeting with Darth Vader disclosed on the episode. In fact, the former master and apprentice had multiple encounters, the last of which ended in an epic battle rivaling that of the one on Mustafar in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. This was also a similarly successful retcon since A New Hope's line from Darth Vader seemed to allude to an incident never depicted on film.
Specifically, in that film, Darth Vader declared, "I was but the learner when I left you. Right now I am the master. This was especially perplexing after Revenge of the Sith as Anakin/Vader left Obi-Wan burning on Mustafar rather obviously not leaving him. But at last Obi-Wan Kenobi understood this; Vader and Obi-Wan had truly crossed paths once more before A New Hope.
Anakin Skywalker owned a Padawan.
When the Star Wars: The Clone Wars film showed Anakin had a Padawan, many were stunned and not generally happy as that had not been mentioned whatsoever in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones or Revenge of the Sith. But Ahsoka Tano has really evolved into among Star Wars' finest characters. Throughout The Clone Wars, Ahsoka helped to flesh out Anakin's story arc and character development considerably, bridging Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith perfectly.
Ahsoka has also continued to be critical in Star Wars, appearing in Rebels, The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka. Ahsoka shifted from animation to live-action as well, which illustrates her growing importance. Her narrative isn't finished either since Ahsoka season 2 is reported to be under development.
Father of Luke was Darth Vader.
The single greatest retcon in Star Wars has been the reveal that Darth Vader was actually Luke's father. In addition to being an epic plot twist, this also set in motion the rest of the events of the Skywalker Saga, changing the franchise forever. Because the prequels had to tell this story, Anakin and Padmé had to come together, and Vader's fall had to be especially tragic, as it was clear that, in the end, there was still good in him.
The single greatest retcon in Star Wars has been the reveal that Darth Vader was actually Luke's father. Clearly, although often controversial, Star Wars largely knows what it's doing with retcons. Presumably, they will continue to be resisted by some corners of the fanbase, as Star Wars is a franchise that many have deep nostalgia for. Nevertheless, these 10 examples of retcons in Star Wars truly are the best and reveal how impressively Star Wars can change a story when it needs to.
