Duyen Nguyen

When Luke stands before the Emperor in Return of the Jedi, Palpatine says one of the strangest lines in the saga: “I am defenseless. Take your weapon. Strike me down with all of your hatred, and your journey towards the Dark Side will be complete.” On the face of it, that makes no sense. This …

Not long after the fall of the Jedi, Darth Vader made a personal request to his master. He wanted a world of his own – a place where he could shape his power without interruption. Emperor Palpatine granted it, and Vader chose Mustafar, a volcanic planet soaked in dark side energy and tied to Vader’s …

When we first meet Yoda, he’s a tiny old guy shuffling around with a cane, talking slowly and groaning every time he sits down. Then the prequels hit, he drops the stick, ignites a lightsaber, and suddenly he’s ricocheting off walls like a green pinball. It almost feels like we’re watching two different characters: quiet …

Darth Maul didn’t appear as a fully formed Sith assassin right at the beginning – he was shaped that way from childhood. Long before his duel on Naboo, he survived a brutal upbringing on Dathomir and an even harsher “education” under Darth Sidious. His early years were filled with pain, fear, and tests no child …

Looking back at the duel on Naboo, we can clearly see how aggressively Obi-Wan fought beside his master Qui-Gon Jinn. Both of them relied on Form IV — Ataru, the fast, acrobatic, high-energy style built for constant offense. But after Episode I, we never see Obi-Wan fight this way again. Instead, he switches almost completely …

In A New Hope, we probably remember how Vader told Tarkin that he sensed Obi-Wan’s presence on the Death Star. It’s an interesting exchange that is meant to foreshadow the impending duel between Vader and Obi-Wan. Yet, this conversation also clues us in to the fact that Tarkin knew who Vader truly was. Tarkin was …

The Starkiller Base burst on the scene in The Force Awakens. This planet-size superweapon was meant to be the culmination of Death Star constructions. It was a massive undertaking that raises the question of how it was possible for the First Order to obtain the resources to build it. A primary explanation is the First …

In Revenge of the Sith, Palpatine’s office is decorated with Sith artifacts. Yet, the Jedi seem oblivious to what they are. Puzzling…but we can answer this question by looking into the dark side.  Reasons Why the Jedi Didn’t Notice the Sith Artifacts One idea to consider to explain this discrepancy is that the artifacts were …

Andor has been an amazing series for many reasons, including what it reveals about Imperial officers. On that note, the show helps us realize why Grand Moff Tarkin didn’t abandon the Death Star in A New Hope. We can think of it as a captain going down with his ship, but it’s more than that …

We know about when Vader challenged Palpatine for the last time. That occurred when he threw Sidious into the reactor shaft in Return of the Jedi. Yet, there were other times when Vader took his master to task, both directly and indirectly.  Three Times Vader Directly Challenged Palpatine In terms of direct confrontations, the most …