Andorseason 2 confirmed a timeline detail for the Death Star that is completely unbelievable and drastically changes how you’ll seeANew Hope. Where specific dates ofStar Warsare concerned,Andorseason 2’s timelinewas one of the more intriguing. Rather than take place over the course of a few days or weeks, as mostStar WarsTV shows tend to,Andorseason 2’s endingtook place around four years after its premiere, feeding directly into the story ofRogue One.
Over the course of these four years, many elements were confirmed regardingStar Wars’Rebel Alliance. Not only was the planet of Yavin 4 found and made into a Rebel base, but galaxy-defining elements like the Ghorman Massacre and Mon Mothma’s abandonment of Coruscant took place. This allowedAndorseason 2’s storyto blend seamlessly withRogue One,raising an interesting timeline conversation in the process. AfterAndor, a detail about the Death Star’s timeline becomes clear, makingA New Hopefeel very different.
The Death Star Took 20 Years To Make… & It Didn’t Last A Month
The Death Star timeline aspect thatAndorreconfirmed was just how short its active life span was. When watching theStar Warsmovies in chronological order, going fromStar Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the SithtoRogue Oneand intoA New Hopemeans the Death Star is destroyed within three movies. While the films obviously make it clear how much time has passed in big ways,Andorexpertly showed the intricacies of the Death Star’s construction, the expansiveness of its timeline, and the extreme lengths the Empire went to in order to make it operational.
The more in-depth look at the Death Star inAndormakes the 20 years it took to build feel so much bigger than the movies ever did.Andorseason 2’s final moments then lead right intoRogue One, which does the same withA New Hope. When taking these three specific projects into account, it becomes clear that the Death Star was operational for a few weeks, at the very most.After two decades of the intricacies required to secretly build it on the Empire’s part, the Rebels uncovered what it was, found the plans, and enacted the strike that destroyed it in only a matter of daysor weeks.
The Second Death Star Didn’t Even Get Finished
The Rebels Rubbed Salt In The Wounds Of Palpatine & The Empire
To make this short life span even more humorous, from the perspective that the Emperor’s evil plans that were in the making for 20 years were ended in a few days, the Second Death Star had an even shorter life span than the first. InReturn of the Jedi, it was revealed that the Emperor was making a secret Second Death Star, which was typical of Palpatine with his many contingencies. However, theSecond Death Star was unfinishedwhen the Rebels discovered it and unleashed an attack at the Battle of Endor.
The Battle of Endor then saw the Second Death Star be destroyed before it had even been constructed. The first Death Star managed to be built and became briefly operational, but the Rebels ruined Palpatine’s plans. Only years later, these plans were dashed once more, this time before Palpatine’s secret plan for another planet-killing weapon could even be fully realized.
Palpatine Would’ve Been Better To Avoid Superweapons Entirely
The Empire’s Evil Functioned Better Without Superweapons
If these two incidents prove anything, it is that the Empire and Palpatine would have been better off without superweapons. After all, it was the construction of the Death Star, its plans, and the rush to destroy that kicked the Rebel Alliance into high gear. Without this motivation, the Empire could have outlasted the Rebels.
However, the destruction of the first Death Star led to the deaths of millions of Imperials and the Emperor’s highest-ranked politicians, while the Second Death Star’s explosion killed the Emperor himself, alongside Darth Vader. Without either superweapon, the Empire might never have forced the Rebels ofStar Warsinto such drastic action, proving that Palpatine’s hubris in the Death Stars was his downfall, brought about by the spies and saboteurs ofAndor.
