Star Wars has been around for over 40 years, and it’s been handled by a lot of writers in that time. As such, lots of previously established “rules” in the franchise have been abandoned in newer materials. Here are ten such rules that have been dropped somewhere along the way.
No Force-Sensitive Clones
Early on in the Expanded Universe books, it was established that clones couldn’t be Force sensitive. However, in recent media, the existence of both Supreme Leader Snoke and Rey have called this into question. Shows like The Bad Batch and The Mandalorian have tried to explain this change by showing the Empire working to solve why clones don’t inherit their donors’ Force sensitivity.
How Hyperspace Works
Hyperspace has never been quite fully defined in Star Wars. That makes sense, given that faster-than-light travel is genuinely impossible. However, fans have been a bit perplexed by the way Hyperspace works in the setting, especially with the Holdo Maneuver seen in The Last Jedi seemingly not gelling with previous depictions of the technology.
No Wookiee Jedi
Earlier in the franchise’s history, series creator George Lucas stated he didn’t want there to be any Wookiee Jedi. However, he ended that rule himself in The Clone Wars with the Padawan Gungi, an adorable young Wookiee training to use the Force.
Lightsabers Cauterize Wounds… Sometimes
Lightsabers have been shown to cauterize wounds occasionally. But sometimes, like when Obi-Wan saves Luke from hecklers in the cantina, lightsabers can draw blood. Really, lightsabers are just inconsistent—according to The Phantom Menace, they’re hot enough to melt through solid steel, which means they’re hotter than the surface of the sun.
No Different Lightsaber Colors
Early on, there were only two lightsaber colors: blue and red. There wasn’t really much thought behind these colors, either, they were just the colors for “good guys” and “bad guys,” and, indeed, the only red saber in the entire Original Trilogy is Vader’s. It wasn’t until Jedi when we saw a green saber, and that was just because blue looked bad against the sky on Tatooine. These days, lightsabers come in a wide variety of extremely cool colors, including purple and gold.
The Force Belongs to the Jedi and Sith
The idea that someone has to be trained by the Jedi or Sith to become proficient in Force use makes sense… until it doesn’t. Lately, the franchise has tried to show other methods of Force mastery, including the interesting “magic” of the Witches of Dathomir.
No Explanation of the Force
Initially, Star Wars was content to treat the Force as a mystical energy beyond the comprehension of mere mortals. In The Phantom Menace, Lucas made the puzzling call to boil the Force down to a measurable science, defined by something called midichlorians. This plot point still makes some fans mad, too!
Jedi Must Be Emotionless
The prequels also introduced the rule that the Jedi must be passionless, detached, and aloof. While Yoda and Obi-Wan are certainly ascetic in the Original Trilogy, the entire Order is depicted as unusually stuffy in the prequels. This, of course, would be a narrative requirement for Anakin to fall to the Dark Side, as the dispassionate Jedi couldn’t offer him help with Padme’s prophesized death.
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No Sith for 1,000 Years Before the Prequels
In The Phantom Menace, the Jedi Council is shocked to hear Qui Gon Jinn claim that he fought a Sith. The Jedi are convinced that there have been no Sith for a millennium. In reality, though, we know from The Acolyte that this isn’t exactly true—the Stranger, a Dark Side Force User, attacked the Order 150 years before the events of The Phantom Menace.
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The Sith Rule of Two
The Sith supposedly function by a “rule of two,” in which there’s always one master and one apprentice in the entirety of the Sith Order. However, this isn’t remotely the case even in the films. In the prequels alone, there are no fewer than three Sith characters: Palpatine, Dooku, and Darth Maul.
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