Star Wars has been around for nearly five decades, which means fans have had plenty of time to pick apart every line, scene, and lightsaber swing in the saga. And sure, there are moments that make you stop and go, “Wait, that doesn’t make sense.”
But here’s the truth, a lot of those supposed “plot holes” actually do make sense once you look deeper into the lore. Whether it’s a line recontextualized by a new show, or an explanation buried in a novel or behind-the-scenes quote, the galaxy far, far away tends to connect its dots eventually.
So here are five Star Wars moments that fans once thought were plot holes, but when you really break them down, they fit the story perfectly.
1. Obi-Wan’s “From a Certain Point of View” Line Finally Makes Sense After the Kenobi Series
For decades, fans called Obi-Wan’s line to Luke in Return of the Jedi one of the biggest “plot holes” in Star Wars. When Luke confronts him for lying about his father, Obi-Wan calmly says, “What I told you was true… from a certain point of view.”
To many, that sounded like George Lucas retroactively covering a continuity issue, how Obi-Wan first claimed that Darth Vader murdered Luke’s father in A New Hope, only for The Empire Strikes Back to reveal that Vader was his father all along.
But the Obi-Wan Kenobi series (2022) changed everything. During their emotional final duel, Vader tells Obi-Wan: “You didn’t kill Anakin Skywalker… I did.”
That single line reframes everything we thought we knew. When Obi-Wan later tells Luke that Vader “betrayed and murdered your father,” he isn’t lying, he’s repeating Anakin’s own words. In his eyes, Anakin Skywalker truly died that day on Mustafar, and “Darth Vader” was all that remained.
And this is where another brilliant detail from Kenobi comes in, when Obi-Wan says “Goodbye… Darth.” That line perfectly ties back to A New Hope, when he greets his old apprentice on the Death Star by saying, “Only a master of evil, Darth.” Back in 1977, “Darth” wasn’t meant as a title — it sounded more like a first name. But now, thanks to Kenobi, that line carries real emotional weight. Obi-Wan calls him “Darth” not as a name, but as a final acknowledgment that Anakin is gone forever.
2. The Death Star’s “One Weak Spot” Wasn’t a Mistake
For decades, one of the biggest jokes about Star Wars: A New Hope was the idea that the Empire built a moon-sized superweapon with a single exhaust port that could blow up the whole thing. How could the most fearsome military machine in the galaxy have that kind of design flaw?
Then Rogue One (2016) came along and flipped the entire idea on its head.
It turns out that so-called “flaw” wasn’t a mistake at all — it was sabotage. The film reveals that Galen Erso, the scientist who oversaw the Death Star’s construction, secretly built that weakness into the design on purpose. While publicly serving the Empire, Galen was working in the shadows to make sure the Rebels would one day have a chance to destroy it.
As he says in his holographic message to Jyn:
“I have placed a weakness deep within the system… a flaw so small and powerful they will never find it.”
That tiny exhaust port became the culmination of Galen’s rebellion. He smuggled the technical readouts to the Rebels through his old friend Saw Gerrera, setting off the chain of events that led to the Battle of Yavin.
3. Why R2-D2 Didn’t Tell Luke the Truth About His Father
One of the longest-running Star Wars “plot holes” is why R2-D2, of all droids, never told Luke the truth about his father. I mean — this little astromech was literally there for everything. He served Anakin Skywalker through the Clone Wars, witnessed the rise of the Empire, and never even had his memory wiped. So why didn’t he ever roll up to Luke and say, “Hey kid, your dad’s Darth Vader?”
First off, R2 might not have even known the full truth. During Revenge of the Sith, when Anakin becomes Darth Vader, R2 isn’t present for the transformation. He’s told to stay with the ship on Mustafar while Obi-Wan confronts Anakin. From R2’s perspective, his master went into that fiery duel and never came back. For all he knew, Anakin died that day.
And even if R2 somehow pieced it together later — maybe recognizing Vader’s voice or movements — why would he ever want to relive it? He saw Anakin at his lowest: angry, violent, and lost. The last thing he’d want to do is reopen that wound by telling Luke.
There’s another layer too: loyalty. R2 had served both Anakin and Padmé, and later Obi-Wan. He might’ve understood that Obi-Wan’s version of the truth — “Vader betrayed and murdered your father” — was meant to protect Luke. Out of respect, R2 stayed quiet, letting the humans handle it in their own time.
So it’s not that R2 was holding back for no reason. It’s more like he was keeping a secret that was never his to tell. After all, this droid had seen the fall of the Jedi, the death of his master, and the rise of an Empire — maybe silence was the only way to cope.
4. Nobody Mentioning Ahsoka Tano in the Prequels
When the prequels first hit theaters, Ahsoka Tano didn’t even exist yet. She was introduced years later in The Clone Wars (2008), long after Revenge of the Sith had wrapped up. But once fans fell in love with her character, Anakin Skywalker’s fierce and loyal Padawan, it started to feel like a major plot hole.
If Ahsoka was that important to Anakin, how come no one ever mentioned her in Episode III?
The real-world answer, of course, is that she hadn’t been created yet. But The Clone Wars series gave us an in-universe reason that fits perfectly with the timeline.
Near the end of the show’s fifth season, Ahsoka is wrongfully accused of bombing the Jedi Temple and killing several people. The Council expels her from the Order, only to invite her back after the truth is revealed. But by then, it’s too late, Ahsoka’s faith in the Jedi is shattered. She refuses their offer and walks away.
By the time of Revenge of the Sith, Ahsoka isn’t a Jedi anymore. She’s not at the Temple when Palpatine executes Order 66, and she’s not part of the Jedi ranks being hunted down. Instead, she’s off leading the Siege of Mandalore alongside Captain Rex, separated from Anakin and unaware of his fall to the dark side.
And after all that, it’s no wonder the surviving Jedi never talk about her again. The Council was ashamed of how they treated her, and Anakin’s own story became a tragedy too painful to mention.
What once looked like a massive continuity problem actually became one of the saga’s most emotional story arcs, turning a “missing name” into one of Star Wars’ most powerful lessons about failure, faith, and redemption.