The age-old Death Star plot hole has plagued Star Wars fans since the original trilogy was out in theaters. The premise of A New Hope sees Princess Leia trying to get the plans of the newly-completed weapon to the Rebel Alliance.
There’s not an obvious weakness in the planet killer, but after inspecting the plans, the rebels on Yavin IV decide that the exhaust port could be the way to destroy it. Plenty of fans over the years have called this out as a plot hole, pointing out why would the Empire make a weapon like this with a weakness.
Indeed, it was deemed such an unanswered question that Rogue One revolves around solving it. That movie explains that the weakness in the Death Star was actually planted there by Imperial scientist Galen Erso (Mads Mikkelsen) to allow the Rebels to destroy it. However, as one fan points out, this didn’t need to be explained at all.
Writing on Reddit, user Giantbynameofandre argued that this was the "plot hole" they’re tired of explaining to people. "So an exhaust port has a flaw. It is not unreasonable to believe that the flaw was necessitated for efficiency," they began. "Knowing that the flaw was inevitable, the trench leading up to the port was protected with gun towers. Tarkin, along with other officers, fully believed that the Death Star was superior in its construction that small fighters would pose no threat to them.
"During the rebel assault, an officer pointed out to Tarkin that the rebel attack is exploiting this weakness and offers to prepare a transport for him, to which Tarkin responds, 'Evacuate? In our moment of triumph? I think you overestimate their chances.'"
The fan continued: "To them, the weakness is negligible that there is no chance a rebel fighter would be able to drop torpedos into the port. And they were right. The first fighter to make an attempt failed. Luke was only able to succeed because he used the Force instead of the computer, something no one anticipated because they all believed that the Jedi were extinct."
It’s an interesting point, and it does make the premise of Rogue One seem a little unnecessary… But we’re big fans of both Gareth Edwards’ movie and the prequel series Andor here at GamesRadar+ so we’re more than happy that this was the "plot hole" they decided to solve over at Lucasfilm.
For more on the galaxy far, far away, check out how to watch the Star Wars movies in order as well as all of the upcoming Star Wars shows and movies that we know are on the way.
