Darth Vader’s Death Has An Even Darker Secret You’ve Never Caught
Relatively speaking, the original Star Wars trilogy ended on a note of upbeat optimism. Not only do the Rebels defeat the Empire on and above Endor, but Luke Skywalker manages to redeem Darth Vader. The two have a very touching conversation right before Vader dies, but one Star Wars fan theory is here to make sure you never view that scene the same way again.
Because laser blasts can be heard in the background while Luke and Vader talk, we might actually hear panicked Imperials murdering each other for limited space aboard the escaping shuttles.
Remember The Emotional Scene
If you go back and watch this emotional Star Wars scene, it all takes place in one of the hangar bays aboard the Death Star. This helps to explain how Luke is able to escape the superweapon before Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles destroy it. During the brief scene, Vader asks Luke to take his mask off, allowing the former Sith to look upon his son with his own eyes for the very first time.
Who Are The Imperials Shooting At?
This Star Wars fan theory draws our attention to something about the scene that is otherwise easy to miss: all the ambient noise. Much of the noise is the sound of Imperial officers shouting and rushing, either to their battle stations or to the remaining shuttles. If you listen closely, though, you can clearly hear the sound of blaster fire while Luke and Vader have their heart-to-heart.
At first, you might be tempted to chalk these distinct Star Wars sounds up to the epic space battle raging outside. However, sounds don’t travel in the airless vacuum of space. Sci-fi directors add those noises to make space battles seem more exciting, but even in the quasi-magical galaxy far, far away, it makes no sense for Luke to hear the sounds of combat from the inside of the space station.
Turning On Eachother
As Star Wars fans, that leaves us with one inescapable conclusion: the sounds of laser fire must be coming from inside the Death Star itself. However, there are no other Rebels (like a stream team) that have boarded the space station, and it’s a major plot point that Luke had to surrender to Vader on Endor just to gain access. The only logical explanation is that Stormtroopers and Imperial officers are murdering one another in order to obtain space on one of the handful of shuttlecraft remaining.
George Lucas’ Intention?
It’s obviously difficult to definitively prove or disprove this particular Star Wars theory. If we were betting people, we’d bet that Return of the Jedi director Richard Marquand (or, through him, George Lucas) simply wanted to add some laser blasts in order to enhance the chaotic ambiance of the emotional scene between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. But the theory rings grimly true once you realize there isn’t really any other explanation for the sounds of frantic laser fire inside the Death Star.
The Imperials Knew What Was Coming
Of course, it’s always possible one of the Imperials was secretly a Force user who had enough clairvoyance to see how bad the Sequel Trilogy was going to get. In that case, he most likely died quite happy that he wouldn’t live to see films so completely awful.
