Star Wars Episode 3 - What Really Happened at the End?

[NecroBlade]

Brilliant, kc, well done.

Originally Posted by Lord Pyre

Fixed.

Nice.

[lefton4ya]

I really like that interpretation but feel it is a retcon because I lack faith in Lucas' ability to think that deeply without trying to show it in a very overt way.

[Lord Pyre]

Originally Posted by lefton4ya

I really like that interpretation but feel it is a retcon because I lack faith in Lucas' ability to think that deeply without trying to show it in a very overt way.

KC is George Lucas! Not a retcon!

[Greyelephant]

Speaking of how movies should have really ended, here's a website with tons of really funny endings that "Should have been."

http://www.howitshouldhaveended.com/

Enjoy! I especially liked the Wizard of Oz one.

[Agent Minivann]

Originally Posted by lefton4ya

I really like that interpretation but feel it is a retcon because I lack faith in Lucas' ability to think that deeply without trying to show it in a very overt way.

Or one of his peeps would think deeply like that, and Lucas would fight it until they just did it his way.

I read the thread title and thought, you can't really say what really happened at the end of Episode 3 on a family site.

[chas]

Yes; very nice! I agree.

Wonder if this has been taken up in any of the other media Star Wars explorations, which I don't know about--except for the animated TV series, which doesn't. I know there is a game which covers the early Vader just after the Republic falls.

[nate the dawg]

Originally Posted by killercactus

I was watching Episode 3 yesterday, and thinking to myself how much I despised part of the ending. Padme just "lost her will to live"? How lame. I always wanted to attribute it to Vader's Force Choke somehow to make it less lame, but the medical droid says she's in perfect health. Then, it hit me.

Darth Plagueis the Wise - he had the power to save others that he cared about from death. But, how did he do this? Apparently, no one alive knows but Darth Sidious. So, if I were a Sith Lord, how would I save a person from dying? Well, how about by stealing the life force of someone else? Or having someone give their life force to someone they love? Or better yet - a combination of the two.

There's Vader - lying on the "beach" at Mustafar 3/4 of the way dead. Sidious arrives and kneels over him, and the camera lingers there for a few moments. What's Sidious doing?

As I watched the scenes which parallel Padme and Vader laying on their respective slabs, with Padme dying and Vader being "reborn", it came to me. I knew what Sidious was doing now. And Padme wasn't dying as Vader was surviving - Padme was dying because Vader was surviving.

I theorize that Sidious used the dark side power taught to him by his former master to save Vader's life by taking it from someone that Vader loved - Padme.

Sidious could sense the connection between Vader and Padme - the passion - even when the Jedi couldn't. I'm going to guess that's because the Sith use passion for their power, as Anakin says earlier in the movie. I believe he used that connection to save Vader's life, and take Padme's. Remember that when Vader stands up in the suit for the first time, that Sidious knows Padme is dead. How would he know that so quickly? Sure, Yoda could sense the death of the other Jedi, but Padme isn't a force-attuned person. Sidious knows because he killed her.

At least, I like to believe this is what happened as it's way better than "she lost her will to live", and it's even foreshadowed in the movie and symbolized during those ending scenes.

Wow, kc, that's a pretty good theory!...a little too good...just how did you come by this insight, I wonder.

That's it everyone! killercactus is a Sith Lord!!! This explains the constant advocation of Runa usage! Quickly, grab your lightsabers!!!

Seriously, though, good supposition. I wish Lucas had done something to explain that ending a bit better, it just felt like a crappy way to end the best of the new trilogy.

[Ryougabot]

Originally Posted by nate the dawg

Seriously, though, good supposition. I wish Lucas had done something to explain that ending a bit better, it just felt like a crappy way to end the best of the new trilogy.

The reason the end of that movie seemed so forced and open to great interpenetration like KC's theory is because the Bearded One was not interested in a good explanation. The only thing he was worried about was killing her off, and getting Vader in the suit. He was forced into killing her because it was canon, and he had to get him into the suit because that was his whole agenda from the beginning.

In reference to the theory, I wonder if that is how Sideous stayed alive over all these years. He might have been draining the life of those around him the whole time. It makes you wonder if he grabbed Dokuu's energy upon his death. You also have to wonder if he would have gotten either energy at the end of ROTJ. He really didn't care who, he just needed either Luke or Vader to die. That may be why apprentices are so expendable.

[killercactus]

That's it nate - give into your anger. I can feel the hate flowing through you.... Only together can we end the suppression of Runa and bring order to Heroscapers!!!

By the way all - it's canon that Sidious knows how to transfer his own consciousness (or life force, if you will) into another vessel. In the EU books, he is resurrected at least once by transferring his consciousness into one of his guards, and eventually into a clone body. I would think he uses his own passion for life (or fear of death) to do this. Doesn't seem too far-fetched that he can use someone elses passion to do the same for them.

[jschild]

That would be indeed nice if that was what really happened. To bad it wasn't. Nope, Lucas was fine with Anakin murdering children, but killing his wife, nope can't have that. I literally groaned with the whole stupid, lost the will to live, because Padme is truly so whiny and selfish that living for her children just isn't enough.

Gods, how I hated the prequels and how they suckified everything good in the OT. Really, 2 Jedi's fight everywhere, but because one is 3 feet higher than the other (and tons of other areas to jump to) now he can magically win the fight? Just sad.

[killercactus]

Originally Posted by jschild

That would be indeed nice if that was what really happened. To bad it wasn't. Nope, Lucas was fine with Anakin murdering children, but killing his wife, nope can't have that. I literally groaned with the whole stupid, lost the will to live, because Padme is truly so whiny and selfish that living for her children just isn't enough.

Gods, how I hated the prequels and how they suckified everything good in the OT. Really, 2 Jedi's fight everywhere, but because one is 3 feet higher than the other (and tons of other areas to jump to) now he can magically win the fight? Just sad.

That's another reason I hated "she's lost the will to live" - 2 children that aren't going to have a father is a pretty darn good reason to live, and should provide more than enough will. Padme didn't seem selfish or whiny to me leading up to that, so I looked for another explanation.

I could offer explanations on the other stuff, but I can see they'd be a waste of breath. One of my best friends is determined to hate them too - everything that came after Greedo shot first.

(in fairness - Obi was rolling an extra attack and defense die)

[jschild]

Originally Posted by killercactus

That's another reason I hated "she's lost the will to live" - 2 children that aren't going to have a father is a pretty darn good reason to live, and should provide more than enough will. Padme didn't seem selfish or whiny to me leading up to that, so I looked for another explanation.

I could offer explanations on the other stuff, but I can see they'd be a waste of breath. One of my best friends is determined to hate them too - everything that came after Greedo shooting first.

I could offer up explanations for the whole high ground thing (in fairness - Obi was rolling an extra attack and defense die)

Oh, I don't deny that high ground is an advantage, it was the entire thing like he just had to surrender suddenly because he was 3 foot higher. The way it was presented was stupid.