History AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / StarWars

** In canon and Legends, he's shown a few times to actually have had plans ''fail''. In the canon ''ComicBook/StarWarsDarthVader'' he remarks that he ''hadn't'' planned on Darth Maul's defeat, but ''had'' planned for Dooku to only be a stopgap apprentice while he waited for Anakin to come of age, comparing him to a proton torpedo that "served his purpose and was gone". See also the clusterkriff with the zillo beast in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''. In the Legends novel ''Literature/LabyrinthOfEvil'', the Jedi manage to forensically trace the provenance of the clone army almost all the way back to him, which forces Palpatine to improvise by ordering General Grievous's attack on Coruscant at the start of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' just to throw them off the scent.

* Padmé Naberrie Amidala, particularly during and after ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'': heroine and OnlySaneWoman of the Senate who had a chance to derail Palpatine's plans but failed? Or ObstructionistPacifist and BrokenSystemDogmatist who didn't know when to cut her home planet's losses after it became a victim of the Republic's dysfunction in ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''? And/or Palpatine's patsy who did exactly what he wanted by delaying the Military Creation Act until the clone army was actually ready and he could manufacture a crisis to justify activating it?

** Are Vader and Anakin literally separate people (through some combination of [[SplitPersonality dissociative identity disorder]] and the Force) or just figuratively, and saying that is a coping mechanism for both Luke (who never saw how Vader Anakin could be and idolizes him), Obi-Wan (who can't reconcile the monster with his old friend) and even Anakin himself, (who associates all his happy memories with the time he was known by that name, unable to accept that both Anakin and those times weren't perfect.)

** Did he refuse to apologise to Ahsoka or is it that he did when Plo Koon offered the Council's apology on everyone's behalf? Had he always distrusted Anakin right from the start or only when Anakin accepted the Council seat despite everyone knowing he wasn't ready for it or to become a master? A deleted scene from Episode II shows Windu telling Obi-Wan to trust Anakin more and the Clone Wars gives several instances where he demonstrates trust in and gets along well with Anakin.
** Fans have been increasingly pointing out how the racism surrounding Windu's character has informed how people intepret his and Anakin's relationship.

!!!Western Animation
* ''AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''

* Given that no official translations exist for Grogu's babbling, fans of Disney's Expanded Universe share different ideas on the meaning of "Patu!" Some common guesses translate it to "Papa!" or treat it as the sound Grogu makes when he wants to eat.

d the Naboo back together after a long estrangement, and there's no reason this claim couldn't be true. However, given Nass' previous dislike of Jar Jar, Jar Jar's own lack of merit as a leader or a soldier, and the fact that the Gu* People who watched the Prequel Trilogy and ''The Clone Wars'' as kids are less likely to hate [[TheScrappy Jar Jar Binks]] because the character was aimed at their age group when they first watched those installments. If they had been able to animate hair, then he would have probably been a younger Chewbacca. Jar Jar is also open to some interesting alternate interpretations, particularly once he becomes Senator. Is he really as dumb as he acts, and is he really a patsy for Sidious when he offers the motion to create the clone army? Or is it all just ObfuscatingStupidity, and he in fact knows exactly what he's doing (possible motives: vengeance against the Gungan leadership who humiliated and exiled him around the time of ''The Phantom Menace'').

* There is always the idea that the Canon are [[PropagandaMachine like history textbooks]], created by and [[MetaphoricallyTrue in the style of the "heroic" side.]] The Jedi are pure and benevolent and completely justified in their resistance of the DarkSide! Except.. while they depict the Sith as evil for using evil emotions, they themselves seem to eschew ALL emotions, and seem to consider all emotions, even the most positive, as evil ANYWAYS... What if the Sith were just another religious order, maybe hailing from a planet with a dangerously intense sun (thus, DarkIsNotEvil and LightIsNotGood for them), where they had learned to channel their passions and emotions in a positive way? Love to empower, fear transformed into to protection, anger at the injustice of the world mastered and channelled into focused will to accomplish good things.. Good, passionate people. Then in their spread across the Galaxy, they encounter another religion, the "Jedi". The Jedi, an order of strict and [[TheStoic passionless]] fighters, are horrified at the blasphemous emotionality of the newcomers, and make them into AcceptableTargets in order to crush them in a patriotic, faith-based crusade... Thereafter, the very name of the other religion would be used to describe the violation of their stricture against emotionalism, and anyone walking their left-hand path would be labeled Sith.

* There's been some speculation that [[TheScrappy Jar Jar Binks]] is actually Force-sensitive. The main citation (as per TheFool) is that with some of the crap he lives through and pulls off, there is no ''way'' all of that is purely incidental. [[https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3qvj6w/theory_jar_jar_binks_was_a_trained_force_user/ One theory takes it even further:]] Not only is Jar Jar utilizing ObfuscatingStupidity (his bumbling antics being a form of [[ConfusionFu Drunken Fist]]), but he's actually a ''Sith Lord'', co-conspirator with Palpatine, the EvilCounterpart to Yoda (who was also introduced as an annoying alien who was a lot wiser and more important than he let on) and possibly even TheManBehindTheMan of ''both'' trilogies. The fact that the voice actor for Jar Jar [[https://twitter.com/ahmedbest/status/661221044712148993 seemed to nebulously confirm]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/236oks/iama_ahmed_best_actorwriterdirector_best_known/cgty74i this theory on]] [[http://roguemachinetheatre.podbean.com/e/ahmed-best-on-media/?token=c5d9ea64dfb8bc3cd61edfbcde954994 multiple occasions]] only threw more fuel on the fire.
* This video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1p98VuP69k makes the argument that Jar Jar Binks is more heroic than Chewbacca.]]
* The interpretation of Palpatine being aware of the impending invasion is a development of Thrawn's character. There's a lot of hints that Thrawn joined the Empire because he was aware of a threat and continued to serve because he thought that the New Republic would collapse due to internal infighting ([[{{Irony}} though the Empire itself collapsed due to infighting]]). Later interpretations transferred this to Palpatine. (The current canonical interpretation is probably that any mentions of a "greater threat" by Palpatine during his reign was an excuse to hold power; the [[IMeantToDoThat Vong invasion bolstering that was a coincidence]].)

* People who watched the Prequel Trilogy and ''The Clone Wars'' as kids are less likely to hate [[TheScrappy Jar Jar Binks]] because the character was aimed at their age group when they first watched those installments. If they had been able to animate hair, then he would have probably been a younger Chewbacca. Jar Jar is also open to some interesting alternate interpretations, particularly once he becomes Senator. Is he really as dumb as he acts, and is he really a patsy for Sidious when he offers the motion to create the clone army? Or is it all just ObfuscatingStupidity, and he in fact knows exactly what he's doing (possible motives: vengeance against the Gungan leadership who humiliated and exiled him around the time of ''The Phantom Menace'').
* Jar Jar being made a Senator itself is subject to some interpretation: Was it a reward for his heroism during ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''? Or just a way to [[KickedUpstairs exile him again]] without making Boss Nass look foolish for promoting him to General in the first place and/or upsetting his friends in Naboo? As a Representative he seems to be mostly subservient to Padmé, at least until she goes into hiding and leaves him in charge, is this the result of him being easily impressionable or does his position hold no real power?
** Ditto with him being made a General in ''The Phantom Menace''. Boss Nass says he promoted him because he brought the Gungans and the Naboo back together after a long estrangement, and there's no reason this claim couldn't be true. However, given Nass' previous dislike of Jar Jar, Jar Jar's own lack of merit as a leader or a soldier, and the fact that the Gungans were about to head into a battle they expected to be a massacre, it could also be seen as a UriahGambit.
** At least one theory (mostly a joke) states that he's secretly a Dark Side Force wielder under Palpatine's employ, set up as TheMole and using buckets of ObfuscatingStupidity to throw off suspicion. Ever notice how he always seems to be ''just'' in the right (or wrong) place to keep things moving?

** ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'' reveals that Boba had the tendency of to be something of a ButtMonkey when he was younger, with his plans repeatedly failing even when helped by more experienced {{Bounty Hunter}}s previously shown as quite competent, like Aurra Sing. "Bounty" even ends with Asajj Ventress tying him up, gagging him, stuffing him in a box, and selling him to a despotic warlord in place of the kidnapped girl said warlord intended to take as his bride.

** Though Boba does trail the Millenium Falcon to Cloud City, he doesn't participate in the fighting there at all; Vader does all the work, and Boba's sole role there is to watch Han Solo get carbonite-frozen and then run away to Tatooine with him once Luke and Leia escape.
** On Tatooine, Boba gets a rather lackluster fight, including being killed off when a blinded Han Solo ''accidentally'' shoots Boba's jetpack, causing it to propel him off a skimmer-skiff and into the mouth of the Sarlacc.
** However, such is Boba's cemented reputation amongst ''Star Wars'' fans as an uber-BadassNormal that anyone who doesn't think of Boba as a badass is seen as crazy.

* In [[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker The Rise Of Skywalker]], General Pryde kills Hux because he suspects Hux is the spy. While his suspicions are correct, the movie never really tells us exactly ''how'' Pryde knew that Hux was a spy. Which begs the question: Did Pryde really know that Hux was a spy? Or did Pryde just kill Hux and pin the blame on him, because having worked for Palpatine for a long time, he knows that the Sith don’t take kindly to failure and would’ve probably [[YouHaveFailedMe punished him instead]] if he hadn’t [[TheScapeGoat shifted the blame on someone else]]? If so, then his execution and blaming of Hux would turn out to be more of an AccidentalTruth by pure luck rather than anything else. Or alternatively, maybe he took the opportunity to kill Hux to get rid of an ambitious potential rival that might one day try to usurp his position for the Emperor’s favor?

* There's been some speculation that [[TheScrappy Jar Jar Binks]] is actually Force-sensitive. The main citation (as per TheFool) is that with some of the crap he lives through and pulls off, there is no ''way'' all of that is purely incidental.
* [[https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3qvj6w/theory_jar_jar_binks_was_a_trained_force_user/ One theory that's been gaining popularity]] takes it even further: Not only is Jar Jar utilizing ObfuscatingStupidity (his bumbling antics being a form of [[ConfusionFu Drunken Fist]]), but he's actually a ''Sith lord'', co-conspirator with Palpatine, the EvilCounterpart to Yoda (who was also introduced as an annoying alien who was a lot wiser and more important than he let on) and possibly even TheManBehindTheMan of ''both'' trilogies. The fact that the voice actor for Jar Jar [[https://twitter.com/ahmedbest/status/661221044712148993 seemed to nebulously confirm]] [[https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/236oks/iama_ahmed_best_actorwriterdirector_best_known/cgty74i this theory on]] [[http://roguemachinetheatre.podbean.com/e/ahmed-best-on-media/?token=c5d9ea64dfb8bc3cd61edfbcde954994 multiple occasions]] only threw more fuel on the fire.

* In [[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker The Rise Of Skywalker]], General Pryde kills Hux because he suspects Hux is the spy. While his suspicions are correct, the movie never really tells us exactly ''how'' Pryde knew that Hux was a spy. Which begs the question: Did Pryde really know that Hux was a spy? Or did Pryde just kill Hux and pin the blame on him, because having worked for Palpatine for a long time, he knows that the Sith don’t take kindly to failure and would’ve probably [[YouHaveFailedMe punished him instead]] if he hadn’t [[TheScapeGoat shifted the blame on someone else]]? If so, then his execution and blaming of Hux would turn out to be more of an AccidentalTruth by pure luck rather than anything else.

* In [[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker The Rise Of Skywalker]], General Pryde kills Hux because he suspects Hux is the spy. While his suspicions are correct, the movie never really tells us exactly ''how'' Pryde knew that Hux was a spy. Which begs the question: Did Pryde really know that Hux was a spy? Or did Pryde just kill Hux and pin the blame on him, because having worked for Palpatine for a long time, he knows that the Sith don’t take kindly to failure and would’ve probably punished him instead if he hadn’t [[TheScapeGoat shifted the blame on someone else]]? If so, then his execution and blaming of Hux would turn out to be more of an AccidentalTruth by pure luck rather than anything else.

* In [[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker The Rise Of Skywalker]], General Pryde kills Hux because he suspects Hux is the spy. While his suspicions are correct, the movie never really tells us exactly ''how'' Pryde knew that Hux was a spy. Which begs the question: Did Pryde really know that Hux was a spy? Or did Pryde just kill Hux and pin the blame on him, because having worked for Palpatine for a long time, he knows that the Sith don’t take kindly to failure and would’ve probably punished him instead if he hadn’t [[TheScapeGoat shifted the blame on someone else]]? If so, then his execution blaming of Hux would turn out to be more of an AccidentalTruth by pure luck rather than anything else.

* In [[Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker The Rise Of Skywalker]], General Pryde kills Hux because he suspects Hux is the spy. While his suspicions are correct, the movie never really tells us exactly ''how'' Pryde knew that Hux was a spy. Which begs the question: Did Pryde really know that Hux was a spy? Or did Pryde just kill Hux and pin the blame on him, because having worked for Palpatine for a long time, he knows that the Sith don’t take kindly to failure and would’ve probably punished him instead if he hadn’t [[TheScapeGoat shifted the blame on someone else]]? If so, then his execution and blaming of Hux would turn out to be more or an AccidentalTruth than anything else.

* Obi-Wan Kenobi receives his fair share of different interpretations from the fans and it's arguable that some inconsistencies are the results of {{Retcon}}s in the Prequel Trilogy from things already established (or implied) in the Canon via the Original Trilogy. For instance, some cite his {{Chessmaster}} tendencies in the Original Trilogy and see him as self-righteous and authoritarian in the Prequel Trilogy. He asks who they intend to send and then it dawns on him that everyone else is looking at ''him''. It could also be inferred that Obi-Wan himself is something of an UnreliableNarrator who tends to emphasise his own failures and relative culpability (which would fit in the self-effacing characterization mentioned above). For instance, when Obi-Wan tells Luke that Anakin's turn to the DarkSide was partially his fault because "I thought I could instruct him as well as Yoda. I was wrong." in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'' it somewhat implies that Obi-Wan must have arrogantly demanded to train someone that Yoda would have been ''willing to train'' and done a better job with. Come ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' this is shown clearly not to be the case. Obi-Wan is perhaps a little arrogant in the way he demands to train the boy, but it seems clear that a) Yoda was not willing to do the job and b) the demand is driven by his promise to a dying man rather than any belief in his own abilities as a teacher. And there doesn't seem to be any cases where Obi-Wan tries to represent his role in events to be bigger or better than is actually seen or to place blame for his problems on others. Maybe he really is that humble and/or shy of taking praise or credit?

* There is always the idea that the Canon are [[PropagandaMachine like history textbooks]], created by and [[JediTruth in the style of the "heroic" side.]] The Jedi are pure and benevolent and completely justified in their resistance of the DarkSide! Except.. while they depict the Sith as evil for using evil emotions, they themselves seem to eschew ALL emotions, and seem to consider all emotions, even the most positive, as evil ANYWAYS... What if the Sith were just another religious order, maybe hailing from a planet with a dangerously intense sun (thus, DarkIsNotEvil and LightIsNotGood for them), where they had learned to channel their passions and emotions in a positive way? Love to empower, fear transformed into to protection, anger at the injustice of the world mastered and channelled into focused will to accomplish good things.. Good, passionate people. Then in their spread across the Galaxy, they encounter another religion, the "Jedi". The Jedi, an order of strict and [[TheStoic passionless]] fighters, are horrified at the blasphemous emotionality of the newcomers, and make them into AcceptableTargets in order to crush them in a patriotic, faith-based crusade... Thereafter, the very name of the other religion would be used to describe the violation of their stricture against emotionalism, and anyone walking their left-hand path would be labeled Sith.

** A team of French psychiatrists [[http://www.livescience.com/10679-psychology-darth-vader-revealed.html published a paper using Anakin as a case study]] where they are argued that he should be diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (see UsefulNotes/PersonalityDisorders and Wiki/TheOtherWiki for more information) and that this explains much of his behaviour. They argued that he shows many of the classic traits of the illness including impulsiveness, a pathological fear of abandonment, unstable emotions, paranoia, and dissociative episodes. Unfortunately, because ThereAreNoTherapists in the ''Star Wars'' canon, Anakin doesn't get any help for his condition except a single unsatisfactory session with Master Yoda whereas in our world, he could have been properly treated and his turn to the DarkSide could have been avoided. [[https://www.bpdcentral.com/help-for-families/bpd-articles/?Putting-Darth-Vader-on-the-Couch-6 An article rebutting this]] claims that the films gradually built up to his drastic actions, which doesn't make sense for someone with this disorder.