History WhatAnIdiot / StarWars

'''Instead:''' He sits idly by while the ship's pilot comes too close, mocks his higher-up, and starts clearing out the dreadnought's surface cannons, and then complains they should have given the order to scramble the fighters "five bloody minutes ago" as if he wasn't the one in command who should have given it himself. (The ExpandedUniverse reveals this one is not on the captain, but on Hux, who overrode him on deploying fighters in an attempt to give the Resistance a lesson. "DarthWiki/WhatAnIdiot" perfectly summed up Captain Canady's own opinion on Hux regarding that.)\\

'''Instead:''' He sits idly by while the ship's pilot comes too close, mocks his higher-up, and starts clearing out the dreadnought's surface cannons, and then complains they should have given the order to scramble the fighters "five bloody minutes ago" as if he wasn't the one in command who should have given it himself. (The ExpandedUniverse reveals this one is not on the captain, but on Hux, who overrode him on deploying fighters in an attempt to give the Resistance a lesson. "WhatAnIdiot" perfectly summed up Captain Canady's own opinion on Hux regarding that.)\\

'''Instead:''' They miss the hint and the several opportunities presented to them and just sit on their butts until Anakin arrives and... well, [[DeadlyEuphemism takes care of them]]

'''Instead:''' They both go into exile as self imposed punishment. While it's noble of them to admit their failures, this is of little help to the rest of the galaxy. Palpatine is largely unopposed and secures the Empire very quickly, while the Rebels can barely hold their own in a pretty hopeless guerrilla war. Meanwhile, the other Jedi are hunted down by Vader and the Sith Inquisitors without Obi-Wan and Yoda doing anything significant to impede it, leaving the remnants of the Jedi Order to wither and die. By the time Obi-Wan and Yoda decide to finally train Luke, not to mention to do something remotely useful for the Alliance, he's literally the last Jedi left (except of Ezra Bridger, who is still a Padawan, and Ahsoka Tano, who is lost beyond time and space), and the Order nearly goes extinct.

'''Instead:''' They both go into exile as self imposed punishment. While it's noble of them to admit their failures, this is of little help to the rest of the galaxy. Palpatine is largely unopposed and secures the Empire very quickly, while the Rebels can barely hold their own in a pretty hopeless guerrilla war. Meanwhile, the other Jedi are hunted down by Vader and the Sith Inquisitors without Obi-Wan and Yoda doing anything significant to impede it, leaving the remnants of the Jedi Order to wither and die. By the time Obi-Wan and Yoda decide to finally train Luke, not to mention to do something remotely useful for the Alliance, he's literally the last Jedi left (except by Ezra Bridger, who is still a Padawan, and Ahsoka Tano, who is lost beyond time and space), and the Order nearly goes extinct.

'''Instead:''' Those questions are never investigated in depth, and as a result, the possibility of the entire clone army being secretly a trap is never entertained seriously aside from the standard assumption that the Sith are staging the entire Clone Wars. The only time in which the truth slips out by itself, the accidental activation of clone trooper CT-5385's control chip, happens fortuitously and is quickly covered up by Sidious himself. By the time of Revenge of the Sith, the questions remain untouched, allowing Sidious to catch the Republic off guard by taking control of the clones and executing Order 66.

'''You'd Expect:''' That since they must take down two horrendously powerful Sith Lords who are, however, conviniently separated at the moment, the heroes would gang up on Palpatine and then turn their, hopefully still combined, attention to Vader (or vice versa). There is absolutely no need for a simultaneous attack - the worst case scenario has already happened, and even if Palpatine sends a distress signal, it's very unlikely that Vader would be able to come to his aid in time.\\

'''You'd Also Expect:''' Him from retreat in a stealthy way.\\

'''Instead:''' Those questions are never investigated in depth, and as a result, the possibility of the entire clone army being secretly a trap is never entertained seriously aside from the standard assumption that the Sith are staging the entire Clone Wars. The only time in which the truth slips out by itself, the accidental activation of clone trooper CT-5385's control chip, happens fortuituously and is quickly covered up by Sidious himself. By the time of ''Revenge of the Sith'', the questions remain untouched, allowing Sidious to catch the Republic off guard by taking control of the clones and executing the Order 66.

'''Alternatively Alternatively:''' Even if Yoda can't see a way of effectively combining their forces against Sidious, he should still bring Obi-Wan with him to the Senate building. For what they know, sending him to face Anakin alone might perfectly equate to send him to his death, as they don't actually know whether Obi-Wan can defeat TheChosenOne now that it has turned to the Dark Side. On the other hand, Obi-Wan could be useful in Coruscant to eliminate or distract all the guards and soldiers Palpatine could summon to the building, as well as assisting Yoda himself if he is forced to flee.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' Him to shoot her with a blaster, a rocket or a grenade, anything but a rare kind of weapon that can be tracked.\\
'''Instead:''' Apparently counting on the uncertain possibility that nobody in the Republic's contact list could recognize Kamino's rare facture, he shoots her with a Kaminoan poisonous dart, which basically leaves on Zam's corpse a clue leading unequivocally to Jango's home.\\
'''You'd Also Expect:''' Him from retreat in a stealthy way.\\
'''Instead:''' He flees spectacularly away with his jetpack directly in front of Anakin and Obi-Wan. This eventually clues the latter further that the suspicious Kamino-based bounty hunter with a jetpacked armor in his storage room is definitely the man they are searching for.

'''Alternatively Alternatively:''' Even if Yoda can't see a way of effectively combining their forces against Sidious, he should still bring Obi-Wan with him to the Senate building. For what they know, sending him to face Anakin alone might perfectly equate to send him to his death, as they don't actually know whether Obi-Wan can defeat TheChosenOne now that it has turned to the Dark Side. On the other hand, Obi-Wan could be useful in Coruscant to eliminate or distract all the guards and soldiers Palpatine could summon to the building, as well as assisting Yoda himself if he is forced to flee.\\

'''Alternatively:''' In the unlikely case the Separatists lose interest in waging war against a peaceful Republic, Gunray to arrange for Amidala's death by himself. He has enough money and resources to hire competent assassins and make it look like a work by another of Amidala's growing list of enemies, and now he would operate from the safety of the rising Confederacy of Independent Systems, ensuring the Trade Federation heads would not be captured and judged again. Expanded materials inform that it was rumored Gunray had already put a price on Amidala's head, so he really only needed to be a bit more active if he wanted her dead.\\
'''Instead:''' Gunray demands Dooku to get Amidala killed as a condition to join the movement. Dooku complies because he knows Palpatine will lead the Republic to war with or without her opposition, but from Gunray's perspective, he is shooting himself on the foot by driving the Republic to be overriden by militaristic movements and make things much harder for the Separatist plans.
* Right from the start, Padmé survives the assassination attempt, so Obi-Wan and Anakin are assigned to guard her.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Obi-Wan to, first and foremost, arrange a secure accommodation for her. A room without windows might be fine for starters.\\
'''Instead:''' She sleeps in a room with a huge window that a flying droid can approach unseen and easily cut through.\\
'''You'd Then Expect:''' Padmé would appreciate how much danger she's in, considering someone's tried to assassinate her ''twice.''\\
'''Instead:''' [[SkewedPriorities She is more concerned about Anakin snooping on her and turns off the cameras in her room]].
* Jango Fett is hired to kill Padmé.\\

'''Instead:''' He assigns the job to a less experienced and less skilled assassin named Zam Wessell, even though the only reason to do this (making her a patsy) is ruined by working with her directly.
* Now Zam Wessell is on the job.\\

'''Even Worse:''' Up to her attack, she had gone completely unnoticed by Obi-Wan, meaning she could have perfectly disappeared without leaving a trace. Instead, she blew this possibility by choosing to attack an opponent she should have known she couldn't defeat easily (that's why she was fleeing from them in the first place).

'''And You'd Expect:''' The Jedi Council would send a Jedi with plenty of experience, maybe two, to protect her, since Obi-Wan is going to be busy investigating the mysterious Bounty Hunter. Why not even send Yoda or Windu if Padmé is worth it? It's not like they have a war to fight (yet).\\

* After having miraculously escaped from the Naboo Crisis with his job intact, Nute Gunray is contacted by Count Dooku to join his rising Confederacy of Independent Systems. Gunray, however, wants revenge on both the Republic and former Queen Padmé Amidala, who is now a Senator opposed to the Republic's militarization.\\
'''You'd Expect:''' Gunray to consider that, thanks to the Separatists's gigantic military power, Amidala is actively giving the CSI the advantage by opposing the Republic from gathering a matching army. He should join Dooku and company and propose to secretly support Senatorial pro-peace movements while at the same time getting the Separatist navy ready for their invasion of the Republic, which will allow him to eventually get his hands on Amidala and destroy all she loves and cherishes.\\
'''Alternatively:''' In the unlikely case the warmongering CSI leaders don't support an active attack on the Republic, Gunray has enough money and resources by himself to arrange for her assassination from the political the Confederacy.\\
'''Instead:''' Gunray demands Dooku to get Amidala killed as a condition to join the CSI.

'''Instead:''' He chooses to hold ''Jango'' (a random hired gun bodyguard) at blade-point. Naturally, it fails to impress Count Dooku, a squad of Super Battle Droids shows up and Fett is able to drive him off with his flamethrower after his attention turns to them. At least one later book even has Mace considering this MyGreatestFailure.

* Right from the start, Padmé survives an assassination attempt, so Obi-Wan and Anakin are assigned to guard her.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' The Jedi Council and/or the Senate to start an investigation about the origin of the clone army. Being desperate enough to accept it as a gift from heaven for wartime doesn't mean they should ignore all the shady circumstances surrounding it, the main one being that the clones's genetic donor happens to be a hired gun who formed part of the CSI court while being still stationed in Kamino. Even if the army is ultimately proven to be just a fortunate measure taken by the defunct Force prophet Sifo-Dyas, the fact that Jango was working for the Separatists should raise concerns that Dyas, Kamino or the army itself have been compromised.\\
'''Instead:''' Those questions are never investigated in depth, and as a result, the possibility of the entire Clone Wars having been staged altogether by a hidden party in order to capitalize on the conflict is entertained only as a random musing by most characters. The consequences of this are covered in ''Revenge of the Sith''.

* Qui-Gon had tried to free Shmi Skywalker along with her son, but Watto wouldn't agree to it and Qui-Gon didn't have the time or resources to negotiate further.\\

* In one of the worst StrangledByTheRedString moments in recent memory (also pointed out by WebVideo/RedLetterMedia), Anakin and Padmé's interactions throughout the theatrical film. From the moment he meets her as an adult, Anakin comes off as ''very'' unprofessional and somewhat creepy. He makes inappropriate and arrogant remarks whenever he's around her, openly defies her authority on at least one occasion (in front of the new queen of Naboo, no less!), makes bizarre, leering gestures towards her, shows open support for dictatorships (stating that politicians who don't agree should be "made to"), and attempts to justify [[MisplacedRetribution his massacre of the Sand People - including women and children]] - to her (with her reaction making it look like she's incredibly freaked out by this revelation).\\

'''You'd Expect:''' Them to seek a densely populated planet, preferably with a human population so the girl can grow unnoticed. Or take her to Luke Skywalker, who's training new Jedi and defeated Sidious years before.\\
'''Instead:''' They dump her in Jakku, a desert scavenger world, directly in the hands of a petty merchant like Unkar Plutt. As a result, she lives in a miserable, abused state for 15 years.

'''You'd Expect:''' Them to seek a densely populated planet, preferably with a human population, so the girl can grow unnoticed.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' Sidious to either give Ochi the coordinates or direct him to the relatively accessible Wayfinder on Mustafar\\

'''Or:''' To stop and interrogate her for more information, either himself or with Sidious, who can read minds.\\
'''Instead:''' He ignores what she said and murders both of them. He dies on the planet Pasaana, failing to find Rey.

'''Instead:''' Ochi's only means of reaching Exegol is being given a knife with directions to the other Wayfinder in the wreckage of the second Death Star. And by "directions" meaning the knife points to roughly where in the wreckage, via its shape loosely conforming to the wreck's shape if one stands at a specific hill. If the wreckage deteriorates further, or if he stands at the wrong hill, or if the Wayfinder is taken by scavengers before he gets there, or if the indicated location is still so broad that Ochi ends up looking several miles away from the right spot, then he's got no way to complete his mission.

'''Instead:''' Ochi's only means of reaching Exegol is being given a knife with directions to the other Wayfinder in the wreckage of the second Death Star. And by "directions" meaning the knife points to roughly where in the wreckage, via its shape loosely conforming to the wreck's shape if one stands at a specific hill. If the wreckage deteriorates further, or if he stands at the wrong hill, or if the Wayfinder is taken by scavengers before he gets there, or if the indicated location is still so broad that Ochi ends up looking several miles away from the right location, then he's got no way to complete his mission.

'''You'd Expect:''' For Ochi to follow up on that information and thoroughly search the desert planet for Rey.\\
'''Or:''' To stop and interrogate her for more information regarding her denial, either himself or with Sidious, who can read minds.\\

'''Or:''' To stop and interrogate her for more information regarding her denial.\\

'''The Result''': The troopers begin to consider Finn may be telling the truth, so Phasma is forced to kill them all, eliminating her own backup and giving Finn the time to literally disarm her, leading to her death.\\

'''You'd Expect:''' Being an experienced Force user and duelist who has already suffered from the same technique, he would stop shooting lightning at her. There are many techniques, like telekinesis, which he can use to recover the advantage.\\
'''Instead:''' He just keeps and keeps trying, allowing Rey to send the totality of his humongous power back at him, resulting in his death.