Toxic Star Wars Fans Send Death Threats After Wookieepedia Change
We have truly reached a point of no return when it comes to toxic Star Wars fans. Several angry members of the Star Wars community sent literal death threats to the editors of Wookieepedia after Episode 4 of The Acolyte aired. The website’s crime? Updating their information to better reflect a new revelation about an old character.
Ki-Adi-Mundi
Truly a crime punishable by death…not. Once again Ki-Adi-Mundi—the nothing character whose biggest claim to fame is being wrong—is somehow at the heart of this newest Star Wars controversy with Wookieepedia.
See, the character showed up in the latest episode of Star Wars show The Acolyte around 40 years before his Legends birth, as it’s documented on Wookieepedia. It’s important to make that distinction because, in canon, neither his birth year nor the lifespan of his species had been determined.
All Wookieepedia did was update the canon entry on Mundi to show that as of right now in canon, we only know his death date.
The Trolls Do What They Do Worst
That small change was enough to start several major players in the Fandom Menace, like YouTuber Star Wars Theory, foaming at the mouth. From there, the toxic outrage spread like cancer throughout the dark side of the fandom.
Several weak-minded Star Wars fans were even Jedi mind-tricked into harassing the editors at Wookieepedia, leading to the above-mentioned death threats.
As a lifelong Star Wars fan, I’m starting to get embarrassed. I hate that every time I go online, I see rude, ignorant comments disguised as genuine critiques. I hate that I have to constantly debunk complaints about The Acolyte that any serious Star Wars fan with access to Wookieepedia would know were false.
But most of all, I hate that now, anytime someone hears the words “Star Wars fan,” they immediately think of the most toxic online trolls their imagination can conjure up.
Disney Owns Star Wars
I hate to bring real-world politics into this, but people are now accusing the online Star Wars encyclopedia of bias simply for stating raw facts that go against their false narrative.
I can only assume the Venn diagram for toxic Star Wars fans and people who use the term “fake news” is just a circle. It’s sickening because Star Wars fans know Wookieepedia was just doing their job.
As an online database for Star Wars lore, it’s Wookieepedia’s job to keep up to date on all the latest from Lucasfilm.
As such, when they saw a canon show—which The Acolyte is—contradicting something from a non-canon source, they edited their database accordingly. Somehow that makes them traitors to the fandom who are siding with Disney.
Guys, there is no “siding with Disney.” Disney owns Star Wars fair and square. They can do whatever they want with it.
If they wanted to retcon it so R2-D2 gave birth to Luke Skywalker, they would be well within their rights to do so. Meanwhile, the fans would be well within their rights to stop watching.
Harassment Isn’t Okay
What the fans do not have a right to do, however, is bully and harass Star Wars fans, creators, and lore keepers like Wookieepedia when the company that owns Star Wars does something they don’t like. Bottom line: the Fandom Menace needs to knock it off because it’s not cute anymore.
It was one thing when they made a petition to have The Last Jedi retconned—silly but harmless.
Now, we have content creators whose whole grift is whipping overly nostalgic Star Wars fans into a frenzy over the evil Mouse Overlord hellbent on ruining their childhoods. If it’s making you that mad, maybe it’s time to find another fandom.
Folks, the only reason my parents ever bought me the original Star Wars trilogy on VHS was because it was more cost-effective than me renting them every weekend. If anyone understands how deep a love of Star Wars can run, it’s me.
But as much as I love Star Wars, I would never send a death threat to Wookieepedia just because they changed some tiny, insignificant piece of lore.
Do Better
Stop listening to the grifters. If you don’t like The Acolyte, go dig out your Xbox 360 and play The Force Unleashed. Dust off that dogeared copy of Heir to the Empire and reread it.
Because honestly? It’s not that serious. Canon is just a dumb five-letter word. Not only does Star Wars Legends still exist, but Wookieepedia has literally cataloged every single thing that happened prior to Disney buying the franchise.
They don’t have to have both canon and legends info for each character, but they do because guess what? They’re all fans too!
As Star Wars fans, we need to do better, and that starts by calling out toxic fans when we see them. Let’s not let a small but vocal minority dictate our appearance as a fandom. May the Force be with you.
