“Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” might be a masterclass in cinema, but even it’s not perfect. After seeing it twice this weekend on the big screen, I can’t help but scratch my head about some of the writing and character decisions in this film.
Now, there are plenty of things I could be pedantic about — like Anthony Daniels’ C-3PO clearly breathing in the background as Han and Leia talk about the “Lando system” — but, for the sake of everyone’s time, I’m going to focus on the five biggest plotholes I noticed this time around.
Are you ready?
To be honest, I made the title click-bait-y on purpose. I wanted to see if this would get any more traction than my previous posts. Really, the title should’ve been “5 Questions I Have About ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ After My 131st Rewatch”.
I am going to be talking about things that I think might be plotholes, but don’t think of it as “the logic in this scene makes no sense, therefore this movie is dumb.” Think of it more as “Hey, George Lucas & Co., I have questions about this.”
So, I’ll pose each possible plothole as a question. Maybe there are explanations out there in the novelization, or other Star Wars media, and I’m just not privy to them. I’ll also try to come up with my own explanations as best as I can.
I also won’t pretend that I’m the first person to think of or share these questions/possible plotholes; there are definitely one or two of these that I know fellow Star Wars fans have questioned before.
Just want to say again that I do love “The Empire Strikes Back.” I’m not trying to hate on it; I’m just trying to pose legitimate questions I have with the universe’s logistics and the character choices, and maybe start some discussions with fellow fans about these questions.
With all that said, let’s dive in:
#1: What exactly was Vader’s plan for attacking Hoth, especially if his main goal was to capture Luke?
This was maybe the biggest question I had coming out of the rewatch this weekend. We see throughout the whole film (and in the Star Wars/Vader comics set before this time period) that Vader is willing to do anything to find his son. So, why would he risk an assault on the Rebel base when he’s “sure Skywalker is with them”?
Luke almost dies not once but three times in the Battle of Hoth sequence. His gunner Dak gets killed; then, his speeder takes a direct hit and crashes; and then he almost gets crushed by one of the AT-ATs. (Granted, that last one was mostly on him, as he was trying to grab something out of the back of the speeder.)
Any one of the speeder pilots/gunners or ground troopers theoretically could’ve been Luke, and we see the AT-ATs just shooting at all of them with abandon. Was Vader so confident that Luke would survive the battle?
Moreover, what was Vader’s original plan? Because he had to change plans after “Ozzell came out of lightspeed too close to the system.” So, he wanted the Empire to start its attack from farther away… Why?
The Rebels were confident that the Empire was on its way so they’d already started the evacuation process, but maybe Vader didn’t know that. Maybe the probe never relayed that it’d encountered hostiles and self-destructed, or maybe it did, but Piett or someone didn’t relay that information to Vader. So, maybe Vader assumed that the Rebels didn’t know the Empire was coming and wanted to do some kind of long-range attack… but wouldn’t that still endanger Luke’s life?
If I was Vader, I would’ve had the fleet come out of lightspeed in a spot where it’d be out-of-range of Rebels’ scans but still close enough to Hoth to launch ships from. Then, I would’ve sent the Imperial equivalent of Seal Team 6 to infiltrate the base and extract Luke alive and bring him back to the Imperial Fleet. Then, I would’ve had the Imperial Forces attack the Rebel base, whether that was a long-range bombardment, ground assault, or whatever. OR I would’ve pulled a Voldemort and demanded Luke surrender himself or the Rebel base would be destroyed.
If I had to make a guess as to why Vader seemed confident Luke wouldn’t get killed in the crossfire, I’d say maybe Vader was using the Force to protect him somehow. Luke’s ship does take a direct hit; but rather than his ship blowing up, it’s only disabled and crashes. Maybe Vader was using the Force to influence the world around him to ensure Luke survived. I don’t know. Or maybe Vader was able to see enough of the future to realize Luke would survive the battle. But, all of these are just guesses.
With the biggest one out of the way, I’m going to tackle the rest of these in chronological order (as seen in the film):
#2: Everything about the Wampa makes no sense.
I know I’m not the first person to ask “Why didn’t Luke just kill the Wampa and stay in the cave?” But, everything else about the Wampa seems illogical.
First of all, how did such a big creature sneak up on Luke when Luke was just scanning for lifeforms AND physically looking around for any movement in a big open area? If the Wampa design had looked more like a snow leopard or a mountain lion, I would’ve understood. Those creatures are designed to sneak up on their prey and then pounce on them quickly and quietly. However, the Wampa is designed like a Yeti, which is a nice send up to the myth, but doesn’t make any sense. If Luke hadn’t been scanning for lifeforms and had been riding through an area where the Wampa could’ve jumped out and struck him, that would’ve been more logical.
Second, how does the Wampa stick Luke to the ceiling of its cave? Luke seems to be sealed in place with ice. How did the Wampa make such a trap considering the freezing conditions on the planet? Everything seems to be frozen already. So Luke being stuck to the ceiling via ice implies that the Wampa somehow melted snow, then somehow got this liquid on the ceiling (presumably, while holding Luke in place) and it froze again in a short amount of time. I don’t get the logistics of that. I could theorize that maybe there’s something about that cave (like a thermal hotspot) that allows snow/water to heat and refreeze quickly, but nothing else in the cave seems to indicate that.
Third, how did the Wampa recognize that the lightsaber was a weapon and take it off Luke’s person before imprisoning him in his makeshift freezer? Perhaps the Wampa is smarter than we give it credit for. Maybe it’s more akin to Chewbacca — with reason and intellect — than a mere animal. But, considering that human/oids don’t live natively on Hoth and this might be the first time the Wampa has ever encountered a human/oid, how does it understand human weaponry?
And, finally, yes, why doesn’t Luke just kill the Wampa and stay in the cave? I’ll chalk that one up to “adrenaline” and “not making the best decision under pressure” and “wanting to get away from danger ASAP.” But, for the rest… I have no idea.
#3: Why do AT-ATs exist? Or, at least, why does the Empire use them during the Battle of Hoth?
Again, I know I’m not the first person to point this out, but I fail to see the tactical advantage of large, four-legged walking tanks in a society where spacecraft and hovercraft exist. Hell, even in our world, we have tanks.
Hovercraft tanks exist in the prequels, so why didn’t the Empire have something like that? Why didn’t the Empire create something like a giant Snowcat/tank thing that can plow through any terrain and is nigh indestructible?
As we see with both the AT-ATs in this movie and the AT-STs in the sequel, the legs create too many vulnerabilities. If even one leg is compromised, damaged or destroyed, the whole thing collapses. I know tanks have their weaknesses too, but at least the hovering ones we see in the prequels seem to have fewer flaws than the AT-ATs do.
Also, the AT-ATs presumably get down there via ship, meaning the Rebel base’s shield doesn’t stop physical ships from getting through. So, why doesn’t the Empire just send down TIE fighters or other strike ships to do low-elevation bombing runs or something? Or at least do both AT-ATs and TIE fighters?
From an aesthetical sense, the AT-ATs look pretty menacing, and I suppose it’s a send-up of war elephants or something. I mean, I don’t hate them, but it’s definitely something you shouldn’t think about too hard.
#4: Why does Vader only sense some things with the Force?
This is mainly a question as to why Vader doesn’t sense the Falcon after it attaches to the Star Destroyer Avenger. It could also apply to why Vader doesn’t sense Luke when he’s still on Hoth.
So, at the beginning of the movie, Vader sees the image of the Rebel base that the probe droid sends in. He immediately recognizes that it’s the Rebel base the Empire’s been looking for, despite what the Imperial officers believe. Presumably, it’s because he could sense it was the Rebels via the Force.
Then, when he arrives on Hoth, Vader immediately starts going after the Falcon. In the comics set before ESB, it’s established how Vader knows Luke often flies aboard the Falcon. So, it’s possible he went after the Falcon believing Luke to be aboard or — at minimum — to capture Luke’s friends and force Luke to come to him. Either way, Vader gets what he wants.
But, then after the Falcon flies away, why doesn’t Vader sense that Luke is still on Hoth? In both ESB and ROTJ, Vader is able to sense Luke if they’re in relatively close proximity to each other (like maybe 10-20 miles). So, why doesn’t that work on Hoth?
Later, as the Falcon is hiding in the asteroid field, Vader just knows that everyone aboard is alive. How? I guess it’s through the Force somehow, but how does he know they’re alive but not know where exactly in the asteroid field they are?
Then, as I said, when the Falcon attaches to the back of the Avenger, why Vader can’t sense that Han, Leia & co. are in close proximity?
My guess — and this is just a guess — is that there are two separate Force abilities at work here. We’ll call it Force-sensing and Force-clairvoyance.
Starting with what I’ll call Force-clairvoyance: this is what Vader’s using when he recognizes the Rebel base and when he states that the Falcon‘s crew is alive. He can’t “sense” it per se, but he just knows it. It’s more akin to a gut feeling.
Now, with what I’m calling Force-sensing, I think this is when Force-sensitives are able to sense each other specifically. Maybe being a Force-sensitive “warps” the Force around you — think like how mass impacts gravity. Maybe each Force-sensitive person is like a planet, and the stronger they are, the more they warp the space/Force/environment around them. Not literally, but only on ‘the plane of the Force’ or something. Thus, one Force-sensitive person can feel another based on the way the Force warps in their general area — a “presence,” if you will.
This happens in “Star Wars: Rebels.” Kanan and Ezra are able to sense Vader’s presence near them, despite having never encountered him before. Vader also has a unique presence based on his emotional state – rage, coldness, anger. So, when they encounter him later in the two-part episode, they recognize he’s the one piloting the TIE fighter based on his presence.
Lots of Force-sensitives do this with each other, and their ability to feel each other’s presence seems to be based on: how powerful each of them is; how physically close they are; and how emotionally close they are. That’s why Kylo Ren is able to sense Rey in TROS, and why Vader can sense Obi-Wan in ANH.
Granted, maybe they can’t give an exact location, but if a new ship arrives in your area and you suddenly sense another Force-sensitive in the general vicinity, there’s a good chance the person you’re sensing is aboard the ship. This is exactly what happens between Vader and Obi-Wan in ANH and Vader and Luke in ROTJ.
So, this explains why Vader can sense Luke at the end of ESB, but why doesn’t it work between them on Hoth?
My guess is that Luke isn’t that strong with the Force yet, and thus doesn’t create as much warp in the Force or have a strong presence yet, as he does after training with Yoda. (Hence why Vader says “The Force is with you, young Skywalker.) Vader and Luke are also a lot closer emotionally — meaning that there’s a lot of strong feelings between them, not necessarily positive ones — after the Cloud City duel. Their fates are more tightly bound together after the duel, allowing them both to sense each other much more easily at the end of ESB and later in ROTJ.
Anyway, that’s a lot of explanation to close a plothole that I pointed out, but that’s the best guess I have.
#5: Why does Luke chase after Vader during the duel?
So, Luke is dueling Vader on the carbon-freezing platform, and Vader falls off. Luke then follows him. Why?
Luke’s main concern in going to Cloud City was to save his friends. He’d just seen how Leia & co. were in custody right before entering the carbon-freezing chamber. However, he was tricked into following them and is essentially trapped by Vader in the chamber. Once Vader falls off the platform, though, the one obstacle keeping Luke in that chamber is gone. Why wouldn’t he get out of there and rescue his friends? (There are other ways in and out of there besides the trap door he came through.) But, no, he decides to follow Vader down into the bowels of Cloud City.
My guess is that Luke felt it was his duty to try to stop Vader. He knows who this guy is and the evil he’s capable of. After pushing him off the platform, maybe Luke felt like he had Vader on the backfoot and wanted to finish the job.
He was also, generally, overconfident and riding high on his Jedi training with Yoda, and clearly didn’t realize just how powerful Vader is. I guess it was just another indication of Luke’s hubris. He should’ve taken a (paraphrased) lesson from “30 Rock”: Never follow Darth Vader to a second location.
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So those are my five “biggest” “plotholes.” Again, this is more to prompt discussion than anything else. Do you have any thoughts? Feel free to comment on the Reel Nerds social media pages or email us: reelnerds@gmail.com. Would love to hear what you think!