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It actually has nothing to do with the Force
Star Wars finally explains how Luke made that impossible Death Star shot
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Every Star Wars fan knows how it felt to watch Luke Skywalker strap into his X-wing and take on the Empire in his first run-in with the Death Star. Fans felt fear, excitement, and then utter euphoria when he pulled off that all-important shot, kickstarting one of the Rebellion's first major victories with a massive bang.
Luke's success in making that impossible shot has been attributed to his use of the Force. However, Lucasfilm Publishing and DK Books, in an exclusive excerpt with Polygon, have shared information from Dr. Chris Kempshall's newest book, Star Wars: Star Pilots, which confirms that Luke's success came from more than just his strength in the Force and his flying skill.
Star Pilots confirms the real reason why Luke could blow up the Death Star
Kempshall's newest novel takes the same grounded, real-world historical approach to unpack Star Wars' ships, weapons, and the psychology of warfare as he did in his previous foundational text on the Galactic Empire, Star Wars: The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire. In Star Pilots, Kempshall delivers a gritty, authentic account of what it took to fight in the Galactic Civil War from behind a starfighter's controls. Wedge Antilles, a fan-favorite Rebel fighter ace from his first appearance in the original 1977 film, narrates this account-driven book and offers insight through unreleased interviews and New Republic archive data.
The exclusive excerpt shared with Polygon comes from Chapter 2, "Enlistment and Training," where Antilles highlights how enlistment works differently for the Rebellion and the Empire. Yet the most crucial information appears in the opening paragraphs, where Antilles explains that Rebel Command felt pilots needed to know a variety of starfighters before jumping into battle for the first time, and to go through several protocol checks to ensure they weren't Imperial spies.
Luke Skywalker, however, was an exception. When he first arrived on Yavin, the Rebellion was caught off guard by the Death Star and needed all the help it could get. As mentioned above, Luke’s Force ability was essential to his success, but Antilles revealed something even more important: his knowledge of a specific starfighter, the T-16 Skyhopper, and its manufacturer, Incom Corporation. A small segment of the excerpt can be read below:
“Luke was also fortunate in that he had some flying skill and experience already, though he was lucky that both the T-16 Skyhopper and the X-wing fighter were manufactured by Incom and, as a result, had similar control systems. If we’d made the attack against the Death Star in A-wings, Luke may not have been able to operate the fighter in combat to the degree necessary to ensure victory.”
Fans will remember that Luke’s skill with the T-16 Skyhopper came from him using the airspeeder to shoot womp rats on Tatooine. Funny that this one-off line in A New Hope would later have far more significance than expected in the future of Star Wars media.
You can read the full 17-page excerpt of Star Pilots from DK Books below.
Star Wars: Star Pilots by Dr. Chris Kempshall is now available for purchase.