People still aren’t done ragging on the infamous “Holdo maneuver” from Star Wars: The Last Jedi, but now fans have crossed a line by bringing Han Solo’s piloting skills into question.
One of the most talked about moments from The Last Jedi is still being hotly debated over five years later and it looks like Star Wars fans aren’t getting anywhere. The online argument surrounds a scene in the film in which Laura Dern’s Vice Admiral Holdo rams a cruiser into one of the First Order’s dreadnoughts at near-lightspeed velocity. If you can’t remember, here’s the clip to jog your memory.
Whilst the moment looks awesome, fans have long proclaimed that such a maneuver should be impossible according to the rules of lightspeed travel. But others have defended the scene by bringing up maneuvers from previous films in which characters have done something just as crazy.
One response asked why no one ever questioned Han Solo manually landing at lightspeed in The Force Awakens. As you can imagine, bringing Solo into the argument upset many passionate fans, but they do raise a good point as he breaks the rules of hyperspace travel that he brought up when describing it to Luke Skywalker. But is it really that dangerous?
The debate has raised questions about many other lightspeed maneuvers seen throughout Star Wars canon including the concept of lightspeed skipping, a technique used in The Rise of the Skywalker.
There are plenty more plot holes that revolve around hyperspace travel throughout Star Wars, it’s almost like the whole thing is a fictional concept for a fictional universe with made-up rules.
To be fair, all of these examples come from the sequel trilogy, so maybe it’s a case of those in charge not fully understanding the concept. At the end of the day, you’ll probably find Star Wars more enjoyable if you don’t overthink things like hyperspace travel and the Holdo Maneuver. Just enjoy the experience and remember that it doesn’t always have to make perfect sense.