Star Wars / Tropes E to H

Go back to the main franchise page

Trope A-D | Tropes E-H | Tropes I-L | Tropes M-R | Tropes S-Z

E-F

• Ears as Hair: Several alien species do this at times, including the Togrutas, the Twi'leks, and the Gungans.
• Earth-Shattering Kaboom: The destruction of Alderaan in A New Hope.
  • The First Order's destruction of the Hosnian system in The Force Awakens.
• Elite Agents Above the Law:
  • In most Star Wars media, including Star Wars Legends, the Jedi Order is portrayed as an N.G.O. Superpower of sorts: an independent paramilitary organization that is allied to the Republic, enforcing its law and keeping the peace, but which really only answers to its own Jedi Council—and per Revenge of the Sith, the Council really doesn't like it when the civilian government of the Republic tries to insert itself in what it sees as purely Jedi affairs. During the Clone Wars, the Military Creation Act changes this status by legally appointing Jedi assigned to the war effort as senior officers of the Grand Army of the Republic.
  • In the original trilogy, Darth Vader derives his authority in the Empire not from his official rank, but from his Master-Apprentice relationship with the Emperor. By default this puts the Sith order above any Imperial body. He appears to defer to Grand Moff Tarkin out of respect in A New Hope, but it's doubtful that Tarkin could really do anything about it if Vader decided to ignore him or even challenge his command.
• Emerald Power: The green-skinned Yoda is one of the strongest Jedi there is. There's also an awful lot of green lightsabers used throughout the franchise.
• Eminently Enigmatic Race: Master Yoda's diminutive, big-eyed, large-eared and bright green race are pretty much a total mystery. Only three specimens have ever been seen: Yoda himself, Yaddle, a female who makes a brief appearance in The Phantom Menace as a member of the Jedi Council, and of course The Child / Grogu in The Mandalorian. All are long-lived and very Force-sensitive, but pretty much nothing else is known about them or their origins.
• Emotions vs. Stoicism: Why Jedi are good and Sith are evil, though in the Expanded Universe, stoicism is treated a bit less kindly, as the New Jedi Order by Luke is less rigid.
• Enclosed Extraterrestrials: The Jawas and the Tusken are fully covered in clothing.
• Energy Weapons: Nearly every weapon^note These weapons include firearms, canons, missiles, crossbows, swords, and more. in Star Wars uses lasers and plasma instead of kinetic material like metal and wood.
• Epic Movie: One of the most prominent sources of this genre in science fiction.
• Establishing Character Music:
  • A New Hope: Darth Vader is first seen on the Tantive IV accompanied by an ominous trumpet chord which, combined with his black, skull-like mask and helmet, marks him as the villain. Later when we first see Luke the main theme is heard briefly, marking him as The Hero.
  • Return of the Jedi: The first time we see the Emperor in person we hear first a bombastic Imperial March as his forces are assembled in a grand spectacle as Vader kneels before his master, then as Palpatine descends his shuttle's ramp a low men's chorus takes over with a tune of quiet malice.
  • The Force Awakens: When Rey is first introduced we have about two minutes without dialogue of her just going through her routine while her theme plays, a light feminine piece, but with an inner strength that gets more pronounced as it goes on.
• Eternal Equinox: Kashyyyk has no axial tilt and a perfectly circular orbit, causing it to lack seasons and therefore have its day/night cycles remain the same all year round.
• The Exact Center of Everything: The Galactic Core is a supermassive black hole that renders the center of the galaxy uninhabitable. No living person has ever seen it, droids being sent to observe it being the ones to confirm its existence.
• Excessive Steam Syndrome:
  • How can anyone forget the scenes, where Darth Vader walks dramatically through steam exhausts that for some reason are set around the ship's main entrance. Made even weirder, though more badass, in the novelizations, which claim that the steam is burning hot and that normal people won't exit until it's evaporated. This is actually lampshaded as a security feature to prevent assaults or sabotage when docking.
  • Also the carbon freezing chamber where Luke and Vader fight for the first time. Sort of justified because they're in the industrial underbelly of Cloud City., but mainly it just looks cool with the glow from the lightsabers and all.
• Expanded Universe:
  • From its debut in 1979 until April 25th, 2014, Star Wars accumulated hundreds of novels, cartoons, comic books, and video games based around both minor and major characters from all six original movies alongside new content set in the millennia before the end of the Jedi in The Phantom Menace and in the decades following the heroes' victory in Return of the Jedi. Now, these stories are called Star Wars Legends, because they were declared non-canon by Lucasfilm in order to allow a theatrical sequel to Return of the Jedi.
  • The new Star Wars Expanded Universe encompasses the nine Star Wars episodes currently planned, Rogue One, two TV shows (Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels), and many novels, comic books, and video games. All these stories are approved by Lucasfilm's Story Group, which is attempting to maintain a seamless continuity between all Star Wars content created by Disney and Lucasfilm.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
  • From the first (or fourth, depending on how you look at it) film, "But if they traced the robots here, they may have learned who they sold them to, and that would lead them back... home!".
  • From Return of the Jedi, "But how could they be jamming us if they don't know... we're coming?"
• Extremophile Lifeforms: The Kel Dor species that Jedi Plo Koon belongs live on a planet poor in oxygen and rich in Dorin Gas and helium, the former they breathe like most aliens breathe oxygen. They have to wear special masks in terrestrial environments due to finding oxygen toxic.
• Eye Color Change: There's the phenomenon of "Sith eyes", related to the Dark Side of the Force. They usually aren't permanent and usually manifest when the dark Force-user is enraged; for instance, the always calm and collected Count Dooku never manifests them in the films, and only once in The Clone Wars animated show. Only Darth Maul, who is more or less always belligerent, sports permanent Sith eyes.

• Failsafe Failure: As a rule, if you destroy a single control console for some piece of technology, that technology will immediately and completely fail. This can range from door/bridge controls (A New Hope), to the absolutely crucial deflector shields protecting a mining outpost on a volcanic planet (Revenge of the Sith). In Return of the Jedi, the 19 kilometer-long super-star-destroyer Executor goes into an instant nosedive when its main bridge gets destroyed by a rebel fighter, with the thousands of crew members scattered throughout the ship apparently unable to do anything to prevent it.
• False Flag Operation: The Clone Wars were engineered by Darth Sidious/Chancellor Palpatine so he could secure enough power for himself to become an Emperor and then purge the Jedi.
• Fanfare:
  • The iconic opening music.
  • "Star Wars! Nothing but Star Wars!"
  • David Prowse (Darth Vader) sang "Star Wars, made me a fortune, paid off my mortgage, bought me a car!"
• Fantastic Fighting Style: Lightsaber combat. The EU describes the different styles (called "forms") in detail as well as which characters specialize in them.
  • Form I, Shii-Cho, is rudimentary swordsmanship, with wide, sweeping, simplistic attacks generally comparable to those of a green swordsman of most styles, but most similar to Japanese and German styles in strike zones. It is the first style taught to Jedi apprentices. Luke Skywalker, for example, starts out learning it from Obi-Wan Kenobi.
  • Form II, Makashi, is a fencing-based style, emphasizing precision strikes, thrusts, feints, and parry-ripostes, often with a one-handed grip, at the cost of power. Because it is intended solely for dueling (which it excels at), it is not very useful against blasters. Makashi is practiced by Count Dooku.
  • Form III, Soresu, is thoroughly defensive, with an ideology and style similar to English and Italian swordsmanship, defending and countering when the enemy lowers their guard, and only then. Obi-Wan Kenobi is considered to be the master of Soresu, which he learned after seeing his master get killed in battle.
  • Form IV, Ataru, can best be described as agile and fast-paced, favoring speed and acrobatic attacks over a grounded stance and endurance, comparable to the wild, agile movements of Shaolin Breeze Sword style. Ataru lends itself to Jedi and Sith of small stature, such as Yoda. Qui-Gon Jinn also used this style, minus the acrobatics, as did Obi-Wan Kenobi in his youth.
  • Form V, Shien/Djem So, is derived from Form III, being an more aggressive and power-focused variant of it. Shien is mostly used for reflecting blaster shots back at enemies, while Djem So is meant for dueling and uses parry-strike combinations and power blows to overpower the enemy. It is closely analogous to German longsword fencing, which favors aggression and parrying within the strike. Anakin Skywalker favors this style, as does his son Luke.
  • Form VI, Niman, is a generalized, easy to use style often favored by Jedi who primarily wield the Force, or otherwise find little time for lightsaber combat. A blend of all the prior styles, it can be considered to be based on "self-defense" swordfighting styles prevalent in Renaissance Europe. Many rank-and-file Jedi used this form, such as many of those who fought in the Battle of Geonosis.
  • Form VII, Juyo/Vaapad, can be summed up in three words: Attack! Attack! Attack!. It is the most aggressive form and focuses on sudden and unpredictable attacks, forcing the enemy to constantly defend until they can't keep up. It is is based on Kenjutsu, in particular the Jigen Ryu school. Darth Maul is a master of Juyo, and the Sith as a whole favor it more than the Jedi, who consider it something of a Dangerous Forbidden Technique. Vaapad was developed by Mace Windu as a more Jedi-like version of Juyo.
• Fantastic Fragility: The Death Star, both versions, have weak points that endanger the entirety of their operations.
• Fantastic Honorifics: The Grand Moffs lean more into Fantastic Rank System, but there are also the Jedi honorifics of "Padawan learner" and so on.
• Fantastic Plastic:
  • Plasteel is plastic-like material used heavily in construction, armor and a wide variety of other practical uses, most famously as the material in Darth Vader's helmet.
  • Plastoid is a type of light-weight material that superficially resembles plastic that, while vulnerable to blaster-fire, is resilient to a host of other things, including chemical warfare. It is used for a a wide variety of things, most famously as armor for Empire Stormtroopers.
• Fantastic Race Weapon Affinity:
  • Wookies are known for their bowcasters, essentially Ray Guns shaped like crossbows. The Force Awakens shows that they pack a punch compared to the blasters most other people use.
  • Mandalorians have their armor, made from blaster-resistant beskar steel and customized to the wearer, usually with enough integral weaponry to fill an armory such as poison darts, whipcords, flamethrowers, and missile launchers. This is particularly emphasized with the covert in The Mandalorian who never remove their helmets in the presence of outsiders, and whose Armorer acts as a sort of spiritual leader.
  • Tusken raiders have gaderffii sticks with both bladed and blunt ends. They also use slugthrower rifles, but so do the moisture farmers on Tatooine.
  • The Lasat honor guard wielded bo-rifles that could act as a blaster rifle or a double-ended electrostaff depending on configuration. ISB agent Kallus claimed one after defeating one of the honor guard in single combat during the razing of Lasan.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Anakin towards the Sand People. In the EU, human supremacy is the policy of the Empire, to explain why there were no Imperial aliens in the movies.
  • The droid-hating bartender from A New Hope, as well as the Imperial officer that calls Chewbacca a "thing". As well, the Imperials on Endor refer to the Ewoks as "bear creatures". Droids, despite most of them seeming to be quite sentient and intelligent, are barely given the same degree of respect as living creatures. Luke is generally a bit kinder, but Jawas (of all creatures) round them up like stray animals and quite clearly sell them into slavery. Ironically, this is where the word "robot" comes from, but droids are never referred to as such.
  • Except for the spy that followed Luke and Obi-wan in A New Hope. Also, no aliens are seen among the Rebel troops until Return of the Jedi. From a non-EU perspective, there may be no systemic racism in the Empire at all; like the Rebellion, its military may simply be dominated by humans.
  • Even the good guys can get in on this on occasion, as seen when Finn refer to an alien like Chewbacca as a "thing." Somewhat justified by the fact that Finn is an ex-Stormtrooper and has been hand-fed First Order propaganda his entire life.
  Finn: (to Han, referring to Chewie): You can understand that thing?
  Han: Yeah, and "that thing" can understand you, so watch it!
• Fantastic Rank System: The Empire's rank system includes Moffs and Grand Moffs. Moffs are essentially the military governor of a sector, while Grand Moffs are specially-appointed overseers to sectors or groups of sectors that are experiencing high amounts of unrest, with any Moffs in the relevant sectors answering directly to the Grand Moff. The Expanded Universe adds more fantasy ranks.
• Fantastic Vermin:
  • Mynocks are bat-like Silicon-Based Life that like to chew on starship power cables. As seen in The Empire Strikes Back, a mynock infestation can quickly drain a ship's entire power supply.
  • Tatooine is home to two-meter-long womp rats that can birth litters of sixteen or more at a time and are aggressive predators and scavengers, making them a severe pest to local human and alien populations. This led the government of Anchorhead to place a bounty of ten credits per womp rat killed, something Luke Skywalker and his friends took advantage of to help pay for their education and upgrades to their speeders. In A New Hope, Luke mentions "bullseyeing womp rats in [his] T-16" when another Rebel pilot claims hitting the similarly-sized exhaust port on the Death Star is impossible.
• Fantasy Counterpart Religion:
  • Belief in the Force, shared by both Jedi and Sith, was intended by Lucas to mirror Buddhist, Taoist, and Hindu religious ideas, though it's never elaborated a great deal in the original films. The Jedi subscribe to a more mystical and esoteric idea of the faith, whereas the Sith believe that the Force can be used for material and worldly use, seeing it as a tool to grab power and authority where the Jedi believe that it's about controlling and achieving mastery in oneself, and dealing with suffering.
  • The Jedi's outward organization in the prequels does seem to suggest some form of organized religion. The Jedi have a main Temple located in the Republican capital of Coruscant, with a Council headed by a leader (Yoda), much like the Christian Church and its Pope. On the other hand, the Jedi's status as above-the-fray peacekeepers who don't interfere in politics is more common, at least in terms of status, to classical polytheism in Greece, Rome, and Egypt, as well as the Brahmin caste in Hinduism who were supposed to be primarily spiritual and moral leaders and serve as advisors and tutors to the ruling classes.
  • It's hinted that there are other religious traditions in different planets. The Ewoks in Return of the Jedi initially consider C-3P0 as their god, which Luke, using the Force, uses for their advantage. The Gungans of Naboo make references to "the gods".
• Fantasy Kitchen Sink: Much more common in the non canon EU. However, It is used differently being set in a different universe, but we see this a lot in Star Wars. From Dragons (Dewbacks, thought they dont breathe fire sadly, unless you count the mechanical fire breathers from the Clone Wars), Dwarves (Jawas and Ewoks), Elves (Yoda, as is not so oblivious), Gods (The Ones from The Clone Wars), Giants (The Gorax and Phlogs from the Expanded Universe), Wolfmen (some were seen in the cantina until special editions threw them away), Wizards wielding magic swords, Western gunslingers (Han Solo), and a few others.
• Fantasy Metals:
  • Cortosis, which is a metal hostile to the Force and also with an ability to short out lightsabers. Another famous ability of cortosis is that its ores are constantly electrified and capable of electrocuting anyone who handles them carelessly.
  • Beskar steel. Originally mined on Concordia, the moon of Mandalor, it is both incredibly valuable as bullion and can be forged into extremely durable armor capable of withstanding direct blaster strikes. During the Imperial "purge" of the Mandalorians, much of the remaining beskar was seized by the Empire and is seen by the surviving Mandalorians as the equivalent of Nazi Gold. In The Mandalorian, Mando's reward from the Client for retrieiving the Child is a lockbox full of beskar ingots, which the Armorer forges into new armor for him. It repeatedly saves his life while remaining unblemished.
• Feudal Future: Unlike Dune, the films center around the Republic, which is more accurately The Federation. However, by the time of the Original Trilogy, it's become The Empire with a more centralized, authoritarian government that resembles twentieth century dictatorships. Still planets do have nominal monarchical and aristocratic titles like Princess, and Queen (albeit, many of them are elected monarchs) and the Jedi are a priestly caste with exclusive command of an entire field of knowledge. Some of the planets are entirely governed by gangsters who style them as warlords and tinpot rulers, with Jabba the Hutt being a decadent quasi-oriental sultan who lives in a vaguely medieval style castle.
• Fictional Flag:
  • The Galactic Republic uses a black-on-white wheel symbol with eight spokes, which traditionally appears on its banners and is often emblazoned on its vessels and vehicles as well; this was derived from the symbol of the ancient Bendu religion. The Empire later uses a version of this with inverted colors, typically displaying it against a gray background.
  • The Jedi Order uses a firebird symbol, red on white, stylized to resemble a spike surrounded by swooping wings. Later on, the Rebel Alliance and the New Republic would utilize it as well, as the Old Republic's roundel symbol had by then become too associated with the Empire.
• Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: The Death Star's planet-killing superlaser.

• Flaw Exploitation: Anakin/Vader's love for his family; Luke's for his friends, Rey's longing for a purpose in life.

• Flynning:
  • The lightsaber battles from the original trilogy, dubbed "budget kendo" in some circles. The original idea behind the lightsabers was that they were difficult to handle, which limited their choreography to mostly slashes and parries. There were technical limitations involved as well as skill limitations. Every duel in the Original Trilogy involves Darth Vader. The Vader mask left David Prowse with such a restricted field of view that he had trouble even seeing the person he was dueling with, never mind trying to fight. The props themselves were also fragile, preventing the use of more aggressive and intense strikes.
  • For the prequels', George Lucas specifically stated that the battles of the original trilogy were fought by "old men, feeble cyborgs and young kids" and he wanted the prequels to highlight a more sophisticated fighting style. They are more technically impressive and faster paced, but still use common tricks associated with flynning such as time-wasting flourishes, obviously not aiming strikes at their opponents, and keeping at too far a distance to hit each other. It's a bit more downplayed compared to most other times this trope comes into play, however, as not only does the Force make all the more acrobatic, inefficient moves more applicable, most of the time the opposing duelists are aiming at each other, rather than eachother's blade. However, as a single lightsaber strike means certain amputation and/or death in most instances, lightsaber combat is based as much around countering your opponents moves as it is around quickly killing/ disarming the opponent.
  • The expanded universe elaborates on lightsaber combat, based partially on the forms developed by stunt coordinator Nick Gillard and he made unique styles as a fingerprint for each character. Wookieepedia spells it all out, and Gillard himself said the styles were meant to evoke that the Jedi use an Archaic Weapon for an Advanced Age and thus have to be really good at it. There are also handwaves that the sheer lethality of lightsaber blades mean that it isn't enough to get the killing blow, you have to make sure you won't be hit even slightly as your enemy drops their weapon.
• Following in Relative's Footsteps:
  • Zig-Zagged. Luke already wanted to be a fighter pilot even before meeting Obi-Wan and hearing about how his father was one in the Clone Wars, but there's a real sense of Passing the Torch that further informs his motivation when Obi-Wan hands over his father's lightsaber and sets him on the path to becoming a Jedi as well. When it turns out that daddy had made a turn to the Dark Side it shakes Luke's resolve some, but by the time he defiantly informs the Emperor that "I am a Jedi, like my father before me," it's clear that Luke has decided to honor his father's legacy while being slightly choosy about which parts of that legacy he emulates.
  • In the sequel trilogy, Kylo Ren is intent on following Darth Vader's footsteps and becoming a darksider like his grandfather.
• Forgot About His Powers: Happens a lot, both in the movies as well as in the Expanded Universe. The exact capabilities of the Jedi (and other Force-users) are very inconsistently depicted, with their abilities varying scene to scene depending on the needs of the plot.
• Formerly Friendly Family: Kylo Ren, formerly known as Ben Solo, is the son of Han Solo and Princess Leia. However, after a grave misunderstanding with his uncle Luke and being tempted by the Dark Side turns him evil and he ultimately murders his father. However, he later returns to the light side thanks to both Rey and a final talk with his father.
• Frequently-Broken Unbreakable Vow: In both canon and legends, the one rule of the Sith is the Rule of Two. There can only be two Sith, a master and an apprentice. No more, no less. However, given the treacherous and rule-breaking nature of the Sith, this rule is often bent, twisted, or otherwise ignored. Some masters and apprentices trained Dark Side Assassins as a way to technically not violate the Rule of Two. Other Sith apprentices have straight up trained secret apprentices with the goal to kill their current master. Even the originator of the Rule broke it by training two apprentices, suggesting that the Rule wasn't actually meant to be adhered to.
• Frog Men: The Gurgan are toad-like aliens.
• From Hero to Mentor:
  • Obi-Wan went from apprentice to Jedi Knight to having his own apprentice all in the same day. That apprentice eventually turned to the dark side and became Darth Vader. He later lamented that he was unprepared to be a teacher and regretted his brashness. He then mentors Luke after his adventures with Anakin and Qui-Gon have ended.
  • Similarly, Luke becomes a mentor to Rey in the final trilogy of the The Skywalker Saga after leading the Original Trilogy as its hero, passing on some limited knowledge of the Jedi ways to Rey and trying to explain his frustration with how broken it seems—but she still learns from him.
• From Zero to Hero:
  • Luke Skywalker. Growing up on the sand planet Tatooine with his aunt and uncle as a Farm Boy, one day he encounters two droids who are carrying a message that's a call for help from Princess Leia, the leader of a rebellion against the powerful and evil Galactic Empire. After having found retired Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke goes on a journey to save her, while learning about the ways of the Jedi and the Force, all leading to him going up against Darth Vader and freeing the galaxy of Emperor Palpatine's regime.
  • Rey, the daughter of a failed clone of Palpatine, lives on a sandplanet collecting scrap metal when one day she encounters the droid BB-8. From there on, she becomes involved with the Rebellion, fighting against the First Order, who wants to take over the galaxy. She also turns out to have a great affinity for the Force, a mystical power used by the legendary Jedi.
  • Also, Finn, who at first didn't even have a name (going by a number instead), before joining the Rebellion and playing import roles, which includes his big involvement in the plan to take down Starkiller Base.
• Full-Contact Magic: While it is possible to use the Force without moving, such as when a user is tied up, most Jedi, Sith, and assorted Force users use hand motions to control the energy field that binds us all. It helps the audience understand what they're trying to do and can end up looking pretty sick.
• Functional Magic: While the films generally depict the Force in a manner analogous to Psychic Powers, the Expanded Universe frequently diversifies Force powers into more explicitly magical forms, such as "Sith Sorcery", which involves actual spellcasting and the creation of unusual effects not normally available to conventional Force wielders such as the Jedi. There are also many examples of magical items and Magitek. As a rule of thumb, Force traditions originating from pre-industrial societies, such as Dathomir and the ancient Sith, tend to have the "magic" look and feel, and the "ultra-modern" ones tend to be Psychic Powers.
• Futuristic Superhighway: The prequel trilogy shows flying cars driving in seemingly designated "lanes" on Coruscant.

G

• Gag Dub: Backstroke of the West, as well as Star Wars: Storm in a Glass by Dmitry Puchkov.
• Galactic Superpower: In chronological order: the Galactic Republic, the Galactic Empire, and finally the New Republic. After that the First Order rose up and began to rival the New Republic for control of the galaxy.
• Gambit Pileup: Palpatine's intricate plans are legendary throughout the franchise, but there are others that famously compete with his. Specifically, Vader, Luke, and the Rebel leaders all run their own gambits in Return of the Jedi. In order, the Rebels and Vader are Out-Gambitted by Palpatine, who is in turn Out-Gambitted by Luke.
• Game Changer:
  • This is the meaning behind the title of A New Hope and Return of the Jedi. Without Luke's involvement helping to bring down the Sith, including learning the ways of the force and bringing back the Jedi Order, the Rebellion would never have won.
  • Rescuing Leia is a game-changer. The Empire knew that Leia knew where the rebel base was and Leia knew the Empire would know this and track her. They let her go and Leia had no choice but to bring the Death Star plans (and the bugged Falcon) to the rebels.
  • Destroying the first Death Star counts as one in the franchise, but as the last act of the movie it is the finale to the climax.
  • From Obi-Wan and Yoda's perspective, Luke starting on the path to become a Jedi is the real game changer in order to defeat the Sith. The premise of the original trilogy remained "Rebellion vs. Empire."
  • The Clone Troopers in Attack of the Clones are TGC when they arrive on Geonosis to rescue the overwhelmed Jedi. They become Nothing Is the Same Anymore when they obey General Order 66 and eradicate the Jedi, leaving Emperor Palpatine as Lord And Master of the Galaxy.
  • Snoke argues that the awakening of the force in Rey, and its implied in the end, several other young children across the galaxy, is the next game changer. Luke implies that this would be the start of an entire new phase of the rebellion, and the true rebirth of the Jedi Order.
• Generican Empire: The Galactic Republic, replaced by the Galactic Empire, replaced by the New Republic, replaced in turn by the self-titled First Order.
• Generational Saga: As of The Rise of Skywalker, the films take place over a 65-year time period. The prequels follow Anakin Skywalker's rise from a slave to a Jedi Knight and then his fall to a Sith apprentice. The Original Trilogy focuses on the transformation of his son, Luke Skywalker, from a simple farmer to a galactic hero and Jedi Knight. The Sequels have Anakin's grandson, Ben Solo having fallen to the dark side just as he did.
• Genocide Survivor:
  • In A New Hope, the Empire uses the Death Star to blow up the planet of Alderaan, with Princess Leia being Forced to Watch as her home is instantaneously destroyed. The Expanded Universe goes into more detail about how this affected her. The comic Star Wars: Princess Leia goes over Leia's attempts to track down and protect any other surviving Alderaanians.
  • Obi-wan Kenobi and Yoda are among the only survivors of the Sith's attempt to wipe out the Jedi Order during the Clone Wars. They become hermits on different planets (Tatooine and Dagobah, respectively) until Luke Skywalker gets them both to train him as a Jedi.
• Genre-Busting: A science-fiction epic that combines tropes from war movies, to westerns, to pirate and naval movies (since Space Is an Ocean), Samurai movies as well as elements from classical literature, myth, pulp fiction and comic books. It's the definitive mix of high and low culture.
• Genre Deconstruction: The Prequel Trilogy was intended as a deconstruction of the Original Trilogy.
  • The OT was, on the surface, Space Opera with all of its tropes played straight. The PT, however, is far more morally complex and ambiguous. The heroes never even come close to unmasking the conspiracy before its too late because the conspirator use their own rituals, codes, and heroic calling to serve their ends. All the training and teaching that is intended to make the Jedi a force for good, and the Republic stable, end up undercutting it, with Palpatine in his civilian front, rarely having to do exaggerate or do anything obviously evil to get his way.
  • After the prequels, the entire saga of Darth Vader reads like a dark subversion of The Hero's Journey, the very model that Lucas used to map Luke's story in the original trilogy. Anakin is promised and fated to "bring balance to the force" which not only leads to Prophecy Twist but also turns out to be a result of the villain choosing to create an Artificial Human via the Force to create the Dark Messiah. The Jedi never fully advise or help Anakin to achieve the hero's journey because of their own skepticism about the Prophecy and their belief that the Force "is always in motion", and as such are not able to properly serve as mentors to him. Likewise, despite being intended to be a great hero and great man, Anakin begins and ends his life the same way, as a slave to an abusive master (Watto, Palpatine), and never fully achieves the position and power he wants, either within the Jedi (being made a member of the Council but denied full privileges) or with the Sith (being subordinate to Grand Moff Tarkin and others, and ultimately intended to be replaced with his son by Palpatine).
  • The sequel trilogy and especially The Last Jedi also subvert the hero's journey, by pointing out that believing oneself to be a hero where every step on the way is a road to one's destiny, doesn't prepare one for failure when life throws a curveball. Luke confesses that his fixation on his legend as the great hero, the one who achieved his journey and defeated the bad guys blinded him from seeing Ben Solo as his chosen successor on account of "that mighty Skywalker blood". He wasn't prepared for Ben Solo going dark and the idea of History Repeats made him overreact creating a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy instead. Likewise, Rey inspired by the story of Luke Skywalker and the rebellion believes herself to have a special destiny and a cool past connected to something special, when it proves to be a Changeling Fantasy to cope with the fact her origins are normal and humdrum. Rose Tico and Finn believe that the Rebellion is a straightforward fight between good and evil, owing to their personal grievances and longing for revenge, but at Canto Bight learn that it's in fact very remote from the reality of many people across the galaxy, who largely can't tell the difference when both sides buy weapons from the same rich oligarchs who enslave children to work for them.
• Good Colors, Evil Colors: The heroic Jedi almost always wield blue or green lightsabers, with the occasional yellow, purple, or white, while the evil Sith always wield red.
• Good Old Ways: Of the Jedi. Obi-Wan's quote on lightsabers, the Jedi weapon ("an elegant weapon for a more civilized age") provides the trope page's quote.
• Good Prosthetic, Evil Prosthetic: In the end of The Empire Strikes Back, Darth Vader cuts off Luke's hand with his lightsaber, and Luke replaces it with a prosthetic. This can be compared to Anakin's replacement arm after it was severed by Count Dooku, and later when all four of his limbs where replaced in his transformation into Darth Vader himself.
• Good Republic, Evil Empire: The old Republic is seen as a golden age even though it became corrupt and fell. The Empire, headed by the Dark Lord of the Sith and right Manipulative Bastard Emperor Palpatine, is not above planet-destroying genocide to maintain its reign of terror. The Rebel Alliance then overthrows the Empire and form the New Republic.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: Anakin gains a prominent scar on his face somewhere between Episodes II and III, and several more when he becomes Darth Vader. Luke has one in The Empire Strikes Back from the wampa attack on Hoth.(in reality, this was from a car accident prior to filming).
• Good Wears White:
  • In the What If? comic series Infinities, an alternate version of the events of Return of the Jedi is shown where Darth Vader was turned against the Emperor by the combined efforts of Luke and Leia. Afterwards, the redeemed Vader wears an all-white version of his classic outfit.
  • The main Jedi Knights in the movies have worn white; Luke Skywalker in the original trilogy, Obi-Wan in the prequel trilogy and Rey in the sequel trilogy. Leia Organa, the leader of the rebels in the original trilogy, also wears white as does her mother Padme Amidala in Attack of the Clones.
  • Black and white have also interplayed to show a contrast of darkness (black) and white (good). Han Solo wears a white shirt underneath a dark jacket or vest to demonstrate his Lovable Rogue nature, with white being downplayed but his true nature. The inverse is the case for the Stormtroopers serving the Empire and First Order- white shells of armor largely covering a black bodysuit, visually communicating the evil regimes' benevolent pretenses. In Return of the Jedi, a subtle costume shift plays on the same. Luke is nearly pushed into the Dark Side while wearing a black jumpsuit. When he turns back and cements himself to the Light, a flap of the suit has fallen open, revealing a white interior.
• Goth Girls Know Magic: Females who switch to the Dark Side gain the power to use the dark side of the Force and are often accompanied by an Evil Costume Switch that garbs them in black and makes them look like a Goth Dominatrix.
• Grappling-Hook Pistol:
  • Used in The Phantom Menace to enter the palace on Naboo.
  • Luke uses one to destroy an Imperial walker in The Empire Strikes Back.
• Gratuitous Princess: Princess Leia. The plot of the series could have been exactly the same were she not a princess (the princess of a planet that is brutally destroyed in the first movie!), and yet she is.
• G-Rated Sex: Word of God says in the commentary for ESB that, for the adults, a kiss between Han and Leia was supposed to have the same effect as two characters having sex in any other movie.
• Graying Morality: The first trilogy. A New Hope has mostly clear-cut heroes and villains (except for Lovable Rogue Han Solo). In The Empire Strikes Back, we learn that Obi-Wan lied to Luke about his father. In Return of the Jedi, Luke is told that he must kill his own father or the Emperor will win.
• Greater-Scope Villain: The Dark Side is a textbook example; is the ultimate source of evil in the Galaxy, but is an impersonal, metaphysical power rather than an actual character.
• Great Offscreen War: There are several mentions of wars and other conflicts which are never actually shown; the aftermath of several such conflicts is shown, however.
  • Some of these conflicts occurred in the distant past. These include several conflicts between the Jedi and the Sith, including the Hundred-Year Darkness of the original schism between the orders, and the Great Scourge of Malachor (whose aftermath is shown); the war between the Jedi and the Mandalorians, the fall of the Old Republic and other countless wars in the Expanded Universe.
  • Some of these conflicts occurred during time periods which have been shown, but the conflicts themselves are not shown. This mainly includes much of the Clone Wars (for example, where many of the principal Jedi were); and most of the war between the Rebellion and the Empire that doesn't directly involve the main characters. These examples crossover into Hero of Another Story.
• Group-Identifying Feature:
  • The Sith Order always wears dark robes and hoods as a stark contrast to their rivals, the Jedi Order.
  • The Galactic Empire is identified by its dark, gray, red and white colors. For instance, Stormtroopers have white-plated armor and helmets while officers tend to wear gray or black uniforms.
  • The Clone Troopers can be easily identified by their white-plated armor.
  • The Mandalorians always wear their signature helmets and beskar armor.
  • Just like the Galactic Empire, the First Order uses dark, gray red and white colors for their government and military respectively.
• Gunship Rescue: Attack of the Clones has one of the archetypal depictions of this (which is a Big Damn Heroes moment too) but it is certainly not limited to any single movie, show, comic or book.

H

• Half the Man He Used to Be: Darth Maul is defeated by a young Obi-Wan by being sliced in half at the waist, before falling down a reactor chamber.
• Harmless Luminescence: None of the lightsaber wielding characters have any vision damage received from the weapons, which burn hot enough to boil through titanium. In fact, lightsabers tend to emit very little light to their surroundings despite their otherwise strong glow (because, until the Sequel Trilogy, the actual props the actors use did not light up.)
• Harmony Versus Discipline: The Force = The Way of Harmony and The Dark Side = The Path of Discipline, in theory with Jedi trying to be one with the Force and the Sith trying to control it by channeling their desires. In practice the Jedi believe in only using The Force with a focus on self-control, while the Sith seek domination through discipline.
• Hated Hometown: Luke and Anakin both feel this way about Tatooine, a corrupt desert planet which offered nothing to fulfill the boys' dreams.
• Have a Gay Old Time:
  • There's a whole page of lines that sound sexual but aren't on Wookieepedia.
  • Kevin J. Anderson's Jabba's Palace anthology series mentions something called a "jizz band." Wow. Just...wow.
• Healing Magic Is the Hardest: While it is possible to use the Force to heal, it is apparently a very specialized skill, possibly requiring innate aptitude on the part of the healer. Most Force users, Light or Dark side, never seem to exhibit this ability to any significant degree. Anakin goes over to the Dark Side specifically because he thinks that he will need such a power to save Padmé from dying in childbirth, and yet despite his extraordinary potential, he does not believe that he can learn the necessary technique from the Jedi Order.
• Heel Realisation: Darth Vader, throughout the saga, knows that he is evil, but thinks he cannot do anything else.
• Heinousness Retcon: The Sequel Trilogy does this with Ben Solo, aka Kylo Ren. The Force Awakens states that Ben's fall to the Dark Side involved him attacking his teacher Luke Skywalker, and leading the Knights of Ren in slaughtering all of Luke's other students. Then The Last Jedi reveals his attack on Luke wasn't unprovoked. Luke had sensed the Dark Side within Ben and considered killing him just long enough to ignite his lightsaber, before thinking better and putting his weapon away—but that was still enough to make Ben think he was being attacked and lash out. (The movie mocks the idea that this sympathetic backstory absolves Ben of his later crimes. Upon learning about Ben's past, Rey becomes convinced she can redeem him, and this fails spectacularly.) Then the tie-in comics leading up to the release of The Rise of Skywalker further absolved Ben Solo by revealing he didn't actually kill Luke's other students. The Knights of Ren did that without Ben's input, aided by a sudden thunderstorm (implied to be caused by Supreme Leader Snoke). Presumably, this was done to make Ben's actual for-real redemption at the film's end more palatable to audiences.
• Hell Is That Noise: Darth Vader's iconic breathing sound.
  • Let's not forget about that animalistic noise Darth Sidious makes just before attacking Windu and his group of Jedi Masters.
• Heroic Sacrifice:
  • Obi-Wan Kenobi does this in A New Hope, allowing himself to be struck down by Darth Vader to buy time for Luke and Han to escape the Death Star with Leia.
  • This is basically the whole purpose of Rogue One's mission to Scarif in Rogue One.
  • This happens several times in The Last Jedi:
    • Vice Admiral Holdo willingly volunteers to stay behind on the Resistance's cruiser to allow the others to escape to the abandoned Rebellion hideout on Crait.
    • Finn attempts to this during the Resistance's last stand against the First Order when he attempts to steer his speeder into one of the First Order's cannons, but this is averted when Rose crashes her speeder into Finn's, causing them both to veer away from the battle.
    • Luke does this during his duel against Kylo Ren to buy time for the surviving members of the Resistance to escape from the First Order when he uses the Force to project himself from half a galaxy away.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Palpatine, and to a degree that verges on being a Plot Hole. On a small scale, he is the one who shapes Anakin into Darth Vader, who eventually overthrows him. On a much larger scale, he is able to completely take control of the galaxy in the prequel trilogy...and then, apparently unable to quit while he's ahead, launches an unnecessary genocide upon the Jedi, thus permanently turning the few surviving Jedi against him and triggering an epic chain of events that would eventually culminate in his being overthrown. (If the title "Revenge of the Sith" is any indication, he did this mainly to settle an old score between the Sith and the Jedi.) While the Jedi were no fans of his even before The Purge, they weren't much of a threat to him either, particularly in light of his being supreme ruler of the Republic. This is even coyly lampshaded in the novelization of Revenge of the Sith, where it's stated that the Jedi are actively searching for the Big Bad, but don't consider Palpatine a suspect because he already rules the galaxy, and thus would have literally nothing else to gain by getting up to any Sith-related shenanigans.
• Hollywood Healing: Luke and Anakin are very active for people with prosthetics. Medical technology in the Republic is far superior to anything we have today.
• Hollywood Tactics: Used repeatedly by the Rebels, who have grossly inferior forces and really have no other options. This is directly mentioned in the novelization of Return of the Jedi: the Rebels know going head to head with an enemy fleet is the one thing a guerrilla force is never supposed to do.
• Horse of a Different Color: Several seen throughout the franchise:
  • Tauntauns, white-haired lizards native to Hoth, were used by the Rebel Alliance as mounts while based on the planet.
  • Bantha, elephant-sized hairy horned mammals native to Tatooine, used by Tusken Raiders as mounts and for haulage.
  • Dewbacks, large reptiles native to Tatooine, used by many inhabitants of the planet, but noted for their use by Imperial Sandtroopers.
  • Ronto, very tall saurian reptiles, used by Jawas for transport and haulage. Apparently native to Tatooine, but it has been suggested in the Expanded Universe they were in fact imported from Nubia, where they are also found.
• Hospital Surprise: Both Luke and Anakin end up stranded and injured, and are shuttled to a hospital.
• Hourglass Plot:
  • At the start of the Saga, the Sith are an underground organization driven to hiding by the all-powerful Jedi and the Old Republic, never being more than two at any time. When the Sith and the Empire rise, it's the Jedi who become the subversive organization driven to hiding, and never numbering more than two at any time between A New Hope and Return of the Jedi^note Obi-Wan and Yoda between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, Luke and Yoda between that film and Return of the Jedi, Luke and the reformed Anakin at the end before the Emperor's defeat.
  • When Luke and Han Solo meet in A New Hope, the former is the idealistic true believer in the Force and eager recruit for the Resistance, while the latter is the cynic who is Not in This for Your Revolution, skeptical of any cause or any higher power. By the end of their lives, Han becomes more idealistic, committed, and a believer in the force, while Luke is cynical, ornery, eccentric and undergoes a Crisis of Faith before, much like Han in A New Hope, changing his mind and pulling a Big Damn Heroes for the Resistance at the end of The Last Jedi.
• How Can Santa Deliver All Those Toys?: This was brought up in a concept album, not the holiday special.
• Human Aliens: Near-human aliens, some of which have a common ancestry.
• Humanoid Aliens: Most major alien species in Star Wars have two eyes, two legs, two arms, a head, and a good enough physique to swing around a lightsaber efficiently, but enough inhuman characteristics to distinguish themselves. Examples range from the fur-covered Wookiees, antennaed Rodians, pancaked-faced Sullustans, Zygerrians, fish-based Mon Calimari, lizard-like Trandoshan, bug-like Geonosians, reptile-like Clawdites, horned Zabraks, and the short, green aliens that make up Yoda's species.
• Humans Are White:
  • Generally the more non-white your accent or facial features, the more likely you are to be a Rubber-Forehead Alien, space jew or green skinned alien babe at best. The EU has a system of Fantastic Racism where humans are privileged above all alien species especially in the Empire.
  • There are precisely two black people in the original trilogy: Lando, and Grizz Fix, an X-wing pilot who gets a quarter second of screen time (dying) in Jedi. The prequels are slightly better about this. Slightly. Blue skin is still more common than black, but at least there's Mace Windu, the galaxy's second most senior Jedi, among the black characters.
  • This is largely rectified in The Force Awakens, which had a racially and ethnically diverse cast, including a black actor and a Latino actor as two parts of the new Power Trio.
• Humongous Mecha: The AT-series walkers are essentially tanks on legs, ranging from AT-ST walkers the size of a large tree to AT-AT walkers which can tower over most buildings.
  • The Clone AT-TEs were this. They're pretty much monstrous walking tanks with several different mounted weapons.
  • The Clone HAVw Juggernaut Tanks are definitely this. They're called "Juggernaut Tanks" for a reason.

• Hyperspace Is a Scary Place: Although only in the sense that if you are space travelling through that high speed method, you have to have your navigational computer work out a safe route first or you could likely collide with something like a star and be destroyed.
• Hypocrite: Taken up to eleven with Darth Sidious who is probably the most hypocritical of all the Sith. Not only is he disappointed in the Empire he created, he also tries to convince Luke Skywalker to kill Darth Vader, who is Luke's father mind you. Darth Vader couldn't have been more pissed to finally realize Palpatine fucked him over all along.
  • Darth Maul is this. All existing Star Wars lore shows just how much of a hypocrite he is.
  • Then there's the Entirety of the Republic who are hypocrites themselves.
  • The Jedi are also this. The most obvious being the Jedi wanting peace while also leaving behind destruction, though this isn't always the case. The Jedi also see everything relating to the Dark Side as bad and everything on the light side as Good.
  • If we go back to Revenge of the Sith where Obi Wan and Anakin were preparing to fight each other, Obi Wan says "Only a Sith deals in absolutes", which in and of itself is correct, however Anakin is the only character to deal in absolutes as no other Sith does this. It's possible that this was only because Anakin had just become part of the Sith, so it would make sense as to why Obi Wan said that. The line is also fairly extreme considering that Obi Wan came at the wrong time along with Padme when both could have just given Anakin more time to think things through rather than confronting him.