As interconnected as the Star Wars franchise is, George Lucas did create some minor moments of inconsistency with the prequels. Overall, the vast majority of the prequel trilogy works incredibly well, laying the foundations and setting up the original trilogy of Star Wars films. However, there are still a few kinda odd moments.

These plot inconsistencies primarily come from character relationships or events referenced in the original films. While supplementary Star Wars media have helped smooth over some elements, they’re still strange nonetheless, especially for fans who’ve only ever watched the movies. Though mostly negligible, here are 10 examples of Star Wars plot inconsistencies created by the prequels.

10

Obi-Wan Kenobi Not Recognizing R2-D2

In A New Hope, R2-D2 goes off in search of Obi-Wan Kenobi, which brings the old Jedi Master and young Luke Skywalker together. Luke explains the situation, Artoo’s determination to find him, and suggests the droid must belong to him. However, Ben Kenobi responds with “I don’t seem to recall ever owning a droid.“

Obi-Wan Kenobi isn’t explicitly lying about R2-D2 with this statement. R2-D2 was owned by Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker. However, the implication made by Ben is that he wasn’t familiar with Artoo at all, despite the prequels very much proving the contrary.

9

Owen Lars Not Recognizing C-3PO

In a similar vein, Owen Lars not remembering C-3PO in A New Hope doesn’t make much sense either.

During the prequels, Threepio and Anakin’s mother came to live with the Lars family for quite some time, as was revealed in Attack of the Clones. Also, Threepio seemed to have been helping on their moisture farm. While Threepio didn’t have gold plating at the time, his memory had been wiped, he still had his name.

8

Darth Vader Not Recognizing C-3PO

Thanks to the prequels, there’s a pattern of droids being forgotten or not acknowledged by the time of the original trilogy. As such, it should also be noted that Darth Vader was in close proximity to C-3PO on multiple occasions, particularly in The Empire Strikes Back.

One would think the man who was once Anakin Skywalker would remember the droid he created as a boy. While there isn’t any recognition in the movies, there is a heartbreaking comic from Dark Horse’s Star Wars Tales where Vader recognizes and remembers Threepio, better explaining why the droid’s parts were eventually returned to Chewbacca in his cell.

7

Leia “Remembering” Padmé

When asked by Luke if she remembers her mother in Return of the Jedi, Leia Organa responds that she does, citing images and feelings.

Leia claims her mother was beautiful and kind, but also sad. However, Revenge of the Sith confirms Padmé died in childbirth, meaning there was never an opportunity for Leia to develop memories of her mother. The best explanation is that this was the Force giving Leia visions, though it doesn’t explain why Luke didn’t also have visions/images of their mother.

6

Yoda’s Exile On Dagobah

In The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda is introduced as a hermit on the swamp world of Dagobah, a former Jedi Master who trains Luke in the ways of the Force. However, the prequels revealed that Yoda was a Grandmaster and key leader of the entire Jedi Order before its fall in Revenge of the Sith.

Having failed to defeat Emperor Palpatine, Yoda went into a self-imposed exile on Dagobah. However, Yoda’s decision to remove himself from the galaxy makes less and less sense as time has gone on, especially as Lucasfilm continues to reveal Jedi survivors of Order 66 who continued fighting the Empire, having more active roles with the Rebellion and beyond.

5

Obi-Wan’s Rapid Aging on Tatooine

In A New Hope, Obi-Wan Kenobi was played by Alec Guinness, while Kenobi was played by Ewan McGregor in the prequels. As such, it seems as though Obi-Wan Kenobi rapidly aged in such a short time, as there’s only a 19-year gap between A New Hope and Revenge of the Sith.

By the fall of the Jedi Order in Revenge of the Sith, Obi-Wan was canonically 38 years old, meaning that he was only 57 in A New Hope.

While the generally accepted explanation is that Tatooine’s twin suns took their toll on Obi-Wan, the change in appearance is still pretty drastic when you think about it. After all, it helps even less that the recent Obi-Wan Kenobi series was set 10 years into the Dark Times and only 9 years before A New Hope (with Kenobi played by McGregor).

4

The Jedi Order Becoming Ancient Myth (Less Than 20 Years Later)

Similarly, the prequels confirm that the Jedi Order was only destroyed 19 years before the events of the original trilogy.

In less than two decades, the Jedi had largely been forgotten in the original trilogy, falling into myth and legend, disregarded as an “ancient religion”. While the explanation in future Star Wars media is that the Empire made great efforts to erase all mention and trace of the Jedi, 19 years is still a pretty short period.

3

Hiding Luke Skywalker With Anakin’s Family on Tatooine

It’s also hard to reconcile the fact that Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi thought the best place to keep Luke Skywalker safe from the Empire would be with Anakin’s family on Tatooine.

Staying with Owen and Beru Lars while being allowed to keep the last name Skywalker, it’s hard to agree with the logic (or lack thereof). That said, it’s been argued that Darth Vader’s pain and hatred ᴀssociated with his homeworld would have kept him away.

Obi-Wan Kenobi helps make this inconsistency somewhat better, with the reveal that the Lars Family was attacked by an Imperial Inquisitor. Even though Darth Vader and the greater Empire were never alerted to Luke’s presence 10 years into the Dark Times, things got very close.

2

Yoda As Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Master?

In The Empire Strikes Back, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Force ghost instructs Luke to find and learn from Yoda in the Dagobah system, “The Jedi master who instructed me“. However, we learn in the opening scenes of The Phantom Menace that Obi-Wan’s master was Liam Neeson’s Qui-Gon Jinn.

This must have created some confusion at the time of Episode I’s release. However, this inconsistency was fairly smoothed over once Yoda was seen teaching a group of younglings in Attack of the Clones, supporting the argument that Yoda was a teacher to all as the Jedi Order’s Grandmaster.

Given Yoda’s centuries-long lifespan, Obi-Wan must have also received instruction from the Grandmaster as a youngling, before Qui-Gon took Obi-Wan on as his apprentice.

1

1,000 Generations vs 1,000 Years

When teaching Luke Skywalker about the fallen Jedi Order in A New Hope, Obi-Wan tells Luke that “For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the Old Republic. Before the dark times, before the Empire.”

However, Chancellor Palpatine says in the prequels’ Attack of the Clones that he won’t let the Republic, “which has stood for a thousand years“, be broken apart by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. For those who have only watched the Star Wars movies, it does feel like a discrepancy regarding the Republic’s actual age.

Thankfully, Expanded Universe materials provided an explanation, as Palpatine was referencing the current Republic since the Ruusan Reformation following the perceived end of the Sith Lords, nearly 1000 years before the start of the Skywalker Saga. Likewise, the Jedi Order served the Republic for much longer than the Reformations, just as Kenobi says.