As Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith nears its 20th anniversary, now is the perfect time to reflect on its monumental scenes, many of which have been changed over time by other Star Wars stories. Widely regarded as the best film of the Star Wars prequel trilogy – and even the best Star Wars movie period by many fans – Revenge of the Sith features some of the saga’s most crucial moments.

However, Revenge of the Sith didn’t have time to expand on every element of the story, a task initially left to the film novelization and the original Star Wars Expanded Universe. In the two decades since then, the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series and the new official Star Wars canon have revealed more information that provides new context to certain scenes. These changes include fleshed-out backstories, alternate perspectives, and foreshadowing future events in the Star Wars timeline.

10

Revenge Of The Sith’s Opening Crawl Makes More Sense Now

Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 3, episode 10 “Heroes on Both Sides”

Revenge of the Sith‘s opening crawl includes the line “There are heroes on both sides,” but it was unclear what this meant. While it is true that the Sith secretly controlled both sides of the Clone Wars, the movies generally portrayed the Jedi and the clones as the heroes and Count Dooku and his droid armies as the villains. There was only a brief mention of Separatists who left the Republic for good reasons but were pressured into war.

Thankfully, the appropriately тιтled Clone Wars episode “Heroes on Both Sides” explored this line in more detail. Hoping to stop the war, Padmé Amidala travels to the Separatist capital to speak with her old friend, Senator Mina Bonteri, who is now a member of the Separatist Senate. While Ahsoka Tano is skeptical, meeting Bonteri quickly teaches her that the politics of the Clone Wars aren’t as black and white as she thought.

Bonteri even convinces the Separatist Senate to offer a peace agreement to the Republic, but sadly, the plan is sabotaged when General Grievous orchestrates an attack on Coruscant. This highlights that while Dooku, the Separatist Council, and many Separatist generals are evil, many Separatist senators and ordinary citizens are simply doing what they think is right. It makes the Clone Wars far more interesting and makes Revenge of the Sith more tragic.

9

Dooku’s Backstory Makes His Fate More Tragic

Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi season 1, episodes 2-4

Dooku’s death was only tragic in Revenge of the Sith because Anakin Skywalker took another step toward the dark side by killing an unarmed opponent. However, there have been several Star Wars stories about Dooku’s time as a Jedi and why he left the Order, including Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi episodes 2–4. In three short episodes, Tales of the Jedi makes you empathize with Dooku and understand what set him on his dark path.

Although he’s a flawed and overconfident Jedi, Dooku sees how the Republic’s corruption and the Jedi Order’s failures are hurting everyday citizens. The first episode wisely begins with Dooku’s time training Qui-Gon Jinn before showing them during the events of The Phantom Menace, making it heartbreaking when Dooku learns of his death. Watching Dooku’s death in Revenge of the Sith is even more tragic knowing that he began with noble intentions.

8

This Isn’t The First Time Certain Characters Have Met During The War

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

The dialogue during Obi-Wan and Anakin’s duel with Dooku suggests it has been a while since these characters have seen each other. Obi-Wan tells Anakin “This time we’ll do it together,” while Anakin tells Dooku his powers have doubled since their last meeting, both of which seemingly refer to the Battle of Geonosis. However, Anakin and Obi-Wan fought Dooku multiple times throughout The Clone Wars and its tie-in books and comics.

The same is true for Obi-Wan and General Grievous, who explain his Jedi training to Obi-Wan while his opponent seems surprised by his enemy’s abilities. This contradicts Obi-Wan and Grievous fighting each other on several occasions throughout the war, with Grievous using some of the same moves. These duels in Revenge of the Sith are now the culmination of long rivalries rather than standalone fights.

7

Anakin’s Frustration With The Council Is More Understandable

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Although Anakin’s personality and motivations were clearly defined in Revenge of the Sith, some of his outbursts at the Jedi Council were hard to empathize with. While the Council didn’t grant Anakin the rank of Jedi Master, it’s hard to blame them when Anakin was appointed by Palpatine rather than earning the тιтle himself. In the original Clone Wars timeline, Anakin only became a Jedi Knight six months before Revenge of the Sith.

Thanks to The Clone Wars, Anakin’s anger about being denied and general frustration with the Council is easier to understand. The Clone Wars made Anakin a Jedi Knight at the start of the war, and he even trained his own Padawan. That same Padawan left the Order after the Council abandoned her, but this was only one of many mistakes that angered Anakin. This doesn’t justify Anakin’s actions but does allow us to see them in a new light.

6

Ahsoka Missed Anakin Just Before He Learned The Truth About Palpatine

Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 7, episode 11 “Shattered”

The last arc of The Clone Wars season is set concurrently with Revenge of the Sith and features familiar moments because of it. One of these scenes is the Jedi Council planning to arrest Palpatine and take control of the Senate when Grievous is destroyed, a conversation Ahsoka just misses. If Ahsoka had walked in sooner, she would have seen Anakin before his next fateful meeting with Palpatine.

Yoda even asks Ahsoka if she has a message for Anakin, but Ahsoka decides to wait and speak to him in person. Rex also notes that Ahsoka didn’t tell the Council about Maul’s vision of Anakin joining Darth Sidious, likely because she didn’t believe it. Perhaps Ahsoka couldn’t have changed anything, but watching Anakin go to see Palpatine is sadder because of that uncertainty.

5

Palpatine Did Indeed Discover The Power To Cheat Death

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker

Anakin’s primary motivation for joining Palpatine was the promise of saving others from dying, but Palpatine confessed that “To cheat death is a power only one has achieved.” This made it ambiguous whether Palpatine really learned this ability from his master or if he could use it to cheat death himself. Star Wars: Dark Empire by Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy explored this idea in 1991, but the comic was made non-canon in 2014.

This made it even more shocking when Palpatine somehow returned in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, having survived his apparent death through dark science and cloning. This revelation gives more weight to Palpatine’s lines in Revenge of the Sith, as he will indeed learn to cheat death and become the true mastermind behind the events of the Star Wars sequel trilogy. It’s also poetic that his granddaughter will be the one to master Force healing as a Jedi.

4

The Clones Had No Choice In Carrying Out Order 66

Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 6, episodes 1-4

Perhaps the most monumental scene in Revenge of the Sith is the Order 66 sequence where the clones turn on the Jedi. It originally seemed that the clones obeyed the order without question, exactly as the Kaminoans described to Obi-Wan in Attack of the Clones. However, The Clone Wars really humanized the clones and showed their growth as individuals, so it no longer made sense for them to kill the Jedi without question.

The solution came in The Clone Wars season 6 when it was revealed how far the Kaminoans went to ensure the clones’ obedience. It turns out that every clone soldier has an inhibitor chip programmed with certain orders, meaning the Clones literally had no choice when Palpatine issued Order 66. This not only explains why none of the clones hesitated but also recontextualizes the entirety of Order 66.

3

Anakin Didn’t Kill All The Younglings

Obi-Wan Kenobi season 1, episode 5 “Part V”

One of the most horrific scenes in Revenge of the Sith is the moment Anakin ignites his lightsaber in front of the Jedi younglings. Obi-Wan discovers the bodies of many more younglings and is heartbroken when he sees a hologram of Anakin committing these atrocities. As if this wasn’t bad enough, we eventually learned that Anakin’s actions have long-term consequences in the form of the Third Sister.

Obi-Wan Kenobi introduced Reva Sevander, a former Jedi Youngling who saw Anakin kill her friends. She grew up to become an Imperial Inquisitor, hunting her fellow Jedi survivors in the hope of earning Darth Vader’s trust and getting close enough to kill him. Revisiting Anakin’s attack on the Jedi Temple not only displays him becoming a monster but also creating a new one.

2

Obi-Wan Did More Than Tell Surviving Jedi To Stay Away

Star Wars Rebels “Spark of Rebellion”

When Obi-Wan and Yoda fought their way into the Jedi Temple, Obi-Wan stated that he had simply reconfigured the Temple beacon. However, Star Wars Rebels revealed that Obi-Wan also recorded a message, not only telling Jedi not to return to the Temple but reminding them to trust in the Force and wait for a “new hope” to emerge. Rewatching this scene now sparks some hope knowing that Jedi like Kanan Jarrus will one day turn to it for inspiration.

1

We Now Know How And When Yoda Learned From Qui-Gon Jinn

Star Wars: The Clone Wars season 6, episodes 11-13

Revenge of the Sith ends with the surprising revelation that Yoda has been in contact with the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn, learning from him the secret to immortality. There was originally a Star Wars deleted scene of Yoda hearing Qui-Gon’s voice, but it was ultimately cut for time. This left several questions about how Qui-Gon achieved this, when he made contact with Yoda, and what training was required for a Jedi to learn it.

The answers came in the final episodes of The Clone Wars season 6, where Qui-Gon led Yoda to Dagobah as the first step on his journey. Yoda then made his way to another Force-rich planet where Force priestesses put him through a series of trials, testing his spirit before they revealed the secret. Yoda’s final scene with Obi-Wan now feels more complete and brings Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith to a satisfying conclusion.