A Theory on what cause the downfall of the Empire

Television, Movies Games and Books Star Wars
#1

So i was watching Episode 2 last night and i thought of something. I believe that it all has to do with the abduction of C-3PO. Really. Now whether it was a gift from Lars, or if Anakin assumed ownership, or if he and Amidala just stole 3PO when they left Tatooine to rescue Obi they did take away a value piece of equipment from the moisture farm.

Now jump forward 20+ years to a New Hope. Uncle Owen finally scrapes up enough cash to buy 3PO back so he can use him to program the evaporators. His plan is that after the current season they will be far ahead enough that Luke can go off and join the Academy and thus join the Empire. Now if 3PO had never left Tatooine it can be speculated that his services would have greatly helped the farm. 3PO’s did not play a vital enough role in the clone wars to avert the things that happened thus Luke would still have been born and would have been returned to Uncle Owen. The thing is though that Uncle Owen would now have a much more successful farm allowing Luke to leave for the academy much earlier. Also there would have been no need for Uncle Owen to buy the droids from the Jawas so the Storm Troopers would have found R2 with the Death Star still intact.

Alderan would still be destroyed but so would Yavin-4. There might have been a battle but it would be with Luke leading a squad of Tie Fighters…he would probably have shot down his good friend Biggs. Eventually Darth Vader would have come across Luke and figured things out and would have been able to train him as his apprentice. Luke would have gone along because he would not have had the positive training from Obi Wan and Yoda. They would have destroyed the Emperor and ruled the Galaxy as father and son.

But none of that happend. 3PO left Tatooine. And the world is a better place for it.

#2

My gods, that makes perfect sense. C3PO is the key!
One question: Now how did Owen not remember C3P0 when he saw him the 2nd time?

And here’s another possible reason for the downfall of the Empire:
http://forum.galacticwatercooler.com/showpost.php?p=67176&postcount=581

#3

The 3PO line is not uncommon from what you can see in the other shows. He just saw it as another protocol droid. After all it was like 20+ years in the past that he last saw him

#4

… I thought power broke down when the Empire was split into East & West… and then there was the Holy Roman Empire… hey wait,.

Oh, you meant the Evil Empire… but I thought Bush is stepping down in January… [SIZE=“4”]Oh[/SIZE], you were talking about Star Wars… heheheh…

PS Anyone listen to Rage Against the Machine?

#5

If only the Senetor and Sith Lord could have seen into the future clear enough, he’d buy Uncle Owen a fleet of C3POs

#6

narf!

Zort!

Gee Brain, what are we going to do tomorrow night?

Pippy Longstockings!

(repeat 3000 times and one might just make it to an OG)

#7

First of all, this is an entertaining and fun theory. Great stuff!

One place where it could theoretically derail, though: Biggs was actually a trained TIE pilot before he defected and filled his critical role in Ep. IV. (This, BTW, is an absolutely kick ass story told in the Empire comic series – and it’s collected in the Star Wars: Empire/Darklighter TPB, volume two of the Empire TPBs. Buy it now. Really.)

In short, Biggs was like the older guy in high school to Luke on Tattooine. They flew T-16s together terrorizing wamp rats and such. Both wanted to join the Empire. As the older dude, Darklighter actually joined first, but quickly discovered they were a bunch of bastards and participated in a mutiny, escaping to the Rebellion where he served with valor.

Assuming that Luke is a relatively strong individual – as exemplified in the expanded universe if not in the films – and considering his strong similarity to Biggs and their shared critical growing-up time, wouldn’t it be possible that Luke might have followed a similar path to the Rebellion? And with his Jedi history, wouldn’t it be likely that once he was with the Rebellion he’d have risen to prominence?

Also, if you’re into Star Wars what-ifs – and who the hell isn’t, right? They’re badass! – you might want to check out the Star Wars: Infinities comic series. There are a number of 'em, and each one tracks one of the movies with at least one major change in history. For example, in the one for A New Hope Luke’s one-in-a-million shot at the Death Star falls short with one of his torpedos detonating early. What makes these comics really relevant to this discussion is that they seem to respect certain large historical events as somewhat inevitable. Even when one major event changes things – even the death of critical players – the same overall outcome occurs, though often via a very different (and sometimes very interesting) path.

#8

Under my theory it would be ok if Luke defected to the rebels becasue R2 would still have been caught by the Stormtroopers on the Jawas Dune Crawler.

And I love me some Star Wars (as any living person should) I am almost done reading the Legacy of the Force book series, just waiting for the last one to come out in paper back (while read the first one in the series which i skipped for some reason) Its an awesome series that has major implications in the EU and involves the death of some major characters in the EU. I have been looking to get into the Comics but don’t know where to start. Are they like X-men where one can pick them up or are they a bunch of stories that should be read from the beginning.

#9

You can jump in wherever you like, but unlike XMen they do follow a relatively strict timeline and continuity. To help anyone wanting to dive in (like I did), I posted a detailed list of various TPBs, issues, and one-offs organizing them in time order and identifying overlaps.

http://forum.galacticwatercooler.com/showthread.php?t=2580

(I re-stuck it, BTW, so it’s much easier to find in the comic section.)

Star Wars comics are very different from XMen (and other superhero series) in other ways, too. Since the vast majority of the SW comics are relatively new, they almost all feature modern digital art. The stories are much more movie-style than comic-style (though they’re slightly more comicish than the movies, of course). And there are virtually no “spin-offs,” “cross-overs” or other such standard comic fare. Actually, I think these make Star Wars a great place for science fiction fans to jump into comics.

That said, I’d recommend starting with the Empire series. The series takes place during and just after A New Hope and offers some insight into just how everyone ended up getting behind the bastards running the Empire. The series is long since complete, which means you can buy it all in trade paperback (seven volumes).

Another hint: they’re not incredibly popular among hardcore comic dudes, so you can find 'em discounted online or even in the bins at your local used book store.

#10

Thanks man. I actually have a big box of books im gonna take to the used book store so maybe i can get me some for trade ins

#11

I like your theory, it’s a lot of fun to speculate on.

But, I am of the opinion that essentially Luke had a destiny, the outcome was predetermined, the details hardly mattered.

#12

Ah, I think it’s a great theory. If C3PO had just stayed at the farm, Uncle Owen would’ve saved up enough money to move to one of the Corellian worlds or Coruscant (or perhaps one of the Hapan worlds. . .). Luke would’ve grown up in some city somewhere; with actual girls to talk to, he wouldn’t have had any need to join the Empire or the Rebellion.

Of course Princess Leia would’ve died, Vader would’ve committed suicide after learning he’d allowed his (to his knowledge, only) daughter to be executed, and Mara Jade would’ve overthrown the Emperor after waking up to the fact that he wasn’t the most wonderful, bestest dictator ever to live. Han Solo and Chewbacca would eventually be executed by Jabba the Hutt, Lando Calrissian would’ve been killed by the guy he stole the money to buy Bespen from (can’t remember who it was) and the Ewoks would’ve all burnt to death to feed small children on the Rim worlds.

Than the Yuuzhan Vong would sweep through the galaxy, and succeed in killing everybody; and that would be that.

#13

That theory is so good it is scary! It is a perfect example too of how one event touches another and then another and so forth. Way cool.

#14

the Ewoks would’ve all burnt to death to feed small children on the Rim worlds.

I’m trying to think of what the downside of this scenario is.

I’ll have my Ewok with a side of Gungan, if you don’t mind. :smiley:

Great theory, Mr. Lister. Pretty goram impressive.