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This video essay breaks down the ten exact moments across the Star Wars saga that telegraphed the inevitable doom of certain characters, from prequel figures who couldn't exist in the original trilogy to friends whose fates were sealed by a single line of dialogue.
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00:00From certain characters needing to be dispatched in order to set up the flicks we know and love
00:04later down the road, to eerie callbacks subtly suggesting that a much-adored personality's time
00:10is up, these Star Wars faces were all clearly done for from these precise moments on.
00:15Gareth here from WhatCultureStarWars and here are 10 exact moments we knew these Star Wars
00:19characters were doomed. Number 10, Luke catches up with an old friend called Biggs, a new hope.
00:25War is a cruel and merciless mistress, and make no mistake about it, from the second we stumble
00:30upon the Rebel Alliance and their conflict with the Big Bad Empire, our heroes find themselves
00:35thrown right into the thick of this frequently harsh reality. And in order to get over just how
00:39high the stakes are in this galaxy-altering battle for the future of their universe, Lucas and the
00:44gang opted to add a rather genius but eventually devastating callback to simpler times, when Luke
00:49Skywalker bumps into his old pal Biggs Darklighter as the pair both prepare to take on Darth Vader
00:55and his Stormtrooper cronies on the Death Star. As the pair reminisce and Biggs bigs up the future
01:00Jedi's supreme pilot skills, Darklighter's comments on wanting to hear about all of Luke's stories when
01:05he gets back pretty much acts as the verbal nail in his own coffin. Sure enough, in the heat of
01:10battle,
01:10Biggs is blasted to smithereens by none other than Luke's own pappy, acting as yet another significant
01:16blow to the young farm boy. Breaks your damn heart.
01:19Number 9. Almost everyone who didn't turn up in the OG trilogy after Order 66 happens,
01:25Revenge of the Sith. Though it was undoubtedly awesome to finally see a world simply overflowing
01:30with the galaxy's protectors over the course of George Lucas' prequel trilogy, the daunting
01:35realization that an unquestionably depressing purge would be on its way always acted as a subtle
01:40shadow in an otherwise vibrant Jedi landscape. Simply put, if the Jedi Order wasn't all but extinct,
01:46as Ben Kenobi put it in A New Hope, by the time of the original trilogy, then some rather
01:51substantial plot holes would have likely made their presence known before long.
01:55So whether fans liked it or not, a whole host of Jedi faces we come to appreciate and admire
02:00over those first two prequel features were doomed to bite the dust from the second Anakin
02:04Skywalker helped Palpatine overcome Mace Windu. Put more on that later. And set the stage for
02:10Order 66 to become an excruciating reality. Just like that, the likes of Kiari Mundi, Plo Koon,
02:16and Aayla Secura, and many, many more were all wiped out by clones. We knew it all had to end
02:21at
02:21some point, but that still didn't make it any easier to swallow this devastating pill.
02:27Number 8. Shmi Skywalker Gets Abducted. Attack of the Clones.
02:31Keeping with the fallen Jedi who helped kickstart a seismic shift in both the galaxy and the balance
02:36of the Force, the moment that pretty much ignited Anakin Skywalker's steady fall into darkness in the
02:42first place, could be spotted coming a mile away from the second this defiant Jedi Padawan opted
02:47to go looking for his mama on Tatooine. Clearly still possessing a strong bond with his single
02:52parent, even experiencing dreams of her suffering from afar. Those first few premonitions of Shmi's
02:57pain acted as the unnerving earliest hint at the grim fate that was always destined to grip the future
03:02Darth Vader's loving mother. A wild goose chase on the desert planet ensued in Attack of the Clones,
03:08only to present the deeply tormented Jedi with a scenario involving his mama being abducted by
03:13Tusken Raiders a month before he landed. At that point, seen as a hugely hostile group,
03:18to expect Shmi to survive that long being held captive by the Raiders was sadly unrealistic,
03:23and her dying breaths to her little Annie were always necessary in nudging this troubled lad down
03:28the dark path we all knew he was heading down. Number 7. Obi-Wan's love is introduced,
03:34The Clone Wars. In another instance of a vital character being introduced in a project set before
03:39the events fans had already seen come to pass in the likes of Revenge of the Sith and the
03:43subsequent features that would ultimately unfold. The arrival of Satine Kryze in The Clone Wars was
03:48always destined to be a bittersweet one. While it was a captivating development to see the world of
03:52Mandalore ruled by the Duchess determined to move the people of her planet on from their largely violent
03:57ways of the past, the powerful figure who also acted as the unexpected love interest of a certain
04:02Obi-Wan Kenobi was pretty much doomed from the second it became clear that she and Kenobi had
04:07a romantic past of sorts. Simply put, Satine isn't mentioned in the slightest in the time following
04:12on from The Clone Wars, so fans were rather morbidly anticipating her demise from the get-go.
04:17And in the end, it was none other than Kenobi's great adversary Maul who dealt the fatal blow,
04:22murdering Satine in front of him as he was helpless to save her.
04:25Number 6. A nervous young Boba watches his father on the battlefield. Attack of the Clones
04:31George Lucas' decision to introduce us to the Fett who had set the stage for Boba did admittedly feel
04:37a little shoehorned at first, but not more than that A New Hope special edition scene.
04:41But said origin story of the coolest bounty hunter in this galactic series would ultimately provide
04:46Boba with a tragic foundation on which the rest of his captivating journey was built upon,
04:51throughout The Clone Wars, Original Trilogy, and subsequent live-action Disney Plus series.
04:56Said tragic event could be seen coming from the minute the jubilant young son of Django started
05:01cheering on the violence and carnage he was witnessing going down within the Geonosian Petronaki arena,
05:06however. You don't bring a youngster along for the evidently perilous ride if you're not intending to scar him for
05:10life, right?
05:11As expected, it wasn't too long before Django, fresh off of showing off his slick pistol skills in dispatching some
05:17Jedi under Reek,
05:19well and truly met his Mace Windu match, having his head taken off by the masterful Jedi in front of
05:23his kid's very eyes.
05:25Dick move, Windu!
05:27Number 5. Leia calling out to Ben harkens back to Luke's passing, the Rise of Skywalker.
05:32While it was admittedly one of the more divisive Star Wars passings,
05:36the sight of Luke Skywalker finally becoming one with the Force after projecting himself across the galaxy
05:41in an attempt to reconcile with former student Kylo Ren,
05:44while simultaneously aiding the future of the Jedi in Rey,
05:48was one that had a lasting and profound effect on the grand finale of the Skywalker saga.
05:53One film on from The Last Jedi, Ren was once again tasked with duking it out with Palpatine's grandkid,
05:58yet the fallen Jedi was once again stopped in his tracks by a Force-sensitive relative,
06:03this time in the form of his mama, General Leia Organa.
06:06Acting as another life-draining projection of sorts from across the galaxy,
06:10it was evident from the second that Leia hobbled away to contact her son
06:14that this was to be the final act for the legendary figure.
06:17The tragic real-life passing of Carrie Fisher also left many sensing that the series would give the iconic face
06:22a fitting send-off at some point in the saga Ender too,
06:25and in acting as the catalyst that would bring Ben back towards the light,
06:29Leia's final action felt as meaningful as it did gut-wrenching.
06:34Number 4. Obi-Wan is compromised as Dooku is disarmed.
06:37Revenge of the Sith
06:38The knowledge of Darth Vader's eventual rise always brought with it the inevitable end
06:43of the former Jedi Master known as Count Dooku.
06:45However, it wasn't precisely clear when his time at Darth Sidious' side
06:49would come to an end coming into the final prequel entry.
06:52That was until Obi-Wan Kenobi found himself sidelined in the midst of his rematch
06:56alongside Anakin Skywalker with the dastardly Sith.
07:00From the moment the Jedi Master was buried underneath a platform,
07:03leaving only the easily manipulated Anakin to juke it out with Dooku,
07:07all signs pointed to the highly emotional Force user losing control
07:11and getting some much-needed revenge on the tyrannical Darth Tyrannus.
07:15One do-it later,
07:17Skywalker had successfully decapitated the one-time Jedi in front of his soon-to-be master.
07:22But had Obi-Wan still been conscious,
07:24you have to imagine Dooku would have likely lived to see the inside of a prison cell instead.
07:28Number 3. Han Solo meets his son face-to-face, The Force Awakens
07:32While many would confess to being wholly shocked at the most devastating development
07:36to come out of the first sequel flick,
07:38that and the fact that Luke Skywalker didn't even get the chance to utter a single word.
07:42In truth, eagle-eyed fans could very much feel this demise a-coming.
07:46With much of The Force Awakens taking inspiration from another beloved Star Wars tale in A New Hope,
07:51it felt somewhat appropriate that the wise old mentor of this flick
07:54would fall in a similar fashion to that of Ben Kenobi in that fourth episode.
07:59Upon stepping out to come face-to-face with his fallen Jedi son, Kylo Ren,
08:03the eerie similarities to that aforementioned Vader-Kenobi showdown were glaring for many.
08:08Add into that the late inclusion of the rest of the heroic gang arriving on the scene
08:12to watch the pair's interaction from afar,
08:14and Han Solo's end was all but confirmed.
08:16Helpless to save the iconic smuggler as he is impaled by his lad,
08:20Rey, like Luke before her,
08:22is forced to take the next steps on her journey without her newfound mentor.
08:26Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
08:28Number 2. Mace Windu tells Anakin Skywalker to stay out of it.
08:31Revenge of the Sith
08:32A great many of the beats that ultimately led to the apparent Chosen One heading into the dark side of
08:37things
08:38could have likely been avoided had Anakin Skywalker been supported
08:41or just trusted a little more at numerous points throughout his gradual fall.
08:45And while Obi-Wan getting knocked out of the action
08:47and leaving Anakin to be manipulated by Sidious earlier on in the Revenge of the Sith film
08:51couldn't really be helped,
08:53the way Mace Windu went about ordering Skywalker to keep from interfering with his arrest of Palpatine
08:57was both avoidable and in the end, deeply foolish.
09:01It was during this verbal back and forth that it became clear
09:03that Anakin's faith in the Jedi was at an all-time low,
09:06and Windu's rejecting of Anakin's help due to the confusion he sensed within him
09:10likely didn't help his cause either.
09:12Then, upon inevitably disobeying said order and witnessing Windu
09:15suddenly decide that Sidious must be killed instead of put on trial,
09:19after all, he's too dangerous to be kept alive.
09:21That loss of faith in the Jedi would finally nudge Anakin over the edge,
09:25as he betrayed the purple-bladed Jedi Master and set the Great Jedi Purge in motion.
09:30Number 1. The Laser Gates Split the Fight
09:32The Phantom Menace
09:33The jaw-dropping duel of the fates still sits as one of the most masterful
09:38and skillfully crafted climaxes the series has to offer.
09:41Highlighting the sheer size and power of the opposition now standing in their way,
09:45both Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi find themselves pushed to their limit
09:49by the dual-bladed Sith Darth Maul early on.
09:52And with the pair already struggling to best this seemingly indomitable Sith as a unit,
09:56the introduction of some frustrating laser gates in the thick of the drama
09:59acted as a rather unnerving hint at what was to come.
10:03Qui-Gon had already struggled to see off Maul on his own
10:05whilst colliding with the mysterious Darksider on Tatooine.
10:08So despite it acting as one of the most savage and soul-crushing acts of the entire saga,
10:13his impaling at the hands of Maul as a helpless Obi-Wan watched on
10:16felt depressingly inevitable from the second those dastardly gates appeared.
10:20In the end, Maul's defiance would get the better of him
10:23as Kenobi eventually dealt a seemingly fatal blow to avenge his master's death.
10:27But the fate-sealing damage had already been done.
10:30And that's our list of any other exact moments we knew Star Wars characters were doomed.
10:34Let us know all about them in the comment section right down below
10:37and do not forget to like, share and click on that subscribe button while you're there.
10:40Also, if you feel the Force is strong with this kind of video,
10:43then head on over to whatculture.com and find some more articles
10:46just like the one this video you're watching right now is based on.
10:49I've been Gareth from What Culture Star Wars,
10:51may the Force be with you, and hopefully I'll see you very, very soon.
10:54Bye-bye!
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