This theory about Star Wars’ Death Star will blow your mind even quicker than it blew up Alderaan
Now we think about it, this seems so obvious
Star Wars spin-off/prequel Rogue One did a good job at filling in some gaps in Star Wars lore, revealing how the Rebel Alliance stole the plans for deadly space station the Death Star as well as why it even had such a major weakness in the first place.
Still, we don’t know absolutely everything about the galaxy’s most nefarious piece of real estate, which is why one fan’s theory about exactly how the Death Star’s planet-destroying weapon works has piqued our interest.
First, a bit of background. Rogue One sees baddies the Empire harvesting Kyber crystals to power the Death Star’s showstopping laser, with the precious stones previously referenced in continuity as the powersource for a Jedi’s lightsaber.
While Rogue One brought this fact into clearer focus it’s been kicking around Star Wars continuity for a while, with many noting the dark irony of the peacekeeping Jedi’s source of strength being used for evil – but now redditor awiniarski has pointed out an even closer connection that we’re kicking ourselves for not noticing sooner.
“I was surprised I didn't see this earlier, but Rogue One convinced me that the Death Star is a giant lightsaber,” he said in a post.
“All it needs is one second of activation in order to pierce the core of the planet, causing the planet to explode. It basically does THIS (referring to the below scene where Liam Neeson's Qui-Gon Jinn burns through a door with his lightsaber) but on massive scale.”
Of course, this would explain why the Death Star’s energy is contained to broadly the diameter of whatever planet it attacks, rather than just flying through space forever – like a lightsaber, it has a pre-set limit of distance – and frankly, when we think about it for more than a minute the whole thing seems to obvious we can’t believe we never thought of it before.
Now, if we could just get someone to explain how Han Solo is able to shimmy out of the range of close-quarter blaster fire in the remastered version of the original Star Wars, we’d be in business.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi will be in UK cinemas on the 15th December
Authors
Huw Fullerton is a Commissioning Editor for Radio Times magazine, covering Entertainment, Comedy and Specialist Drama.
