Questions

As the tenth anniversary of one of the most devastating attacks in our history approaches, many unsettling questions remain.

(1) The Rebel pilot who allegedly destroyed the Death Star did so using a single missile which struck a two-meter-wide exhaust port - a location that potentially represented a unique vulnerability unheard of in space station design - with a shot that was alleged to be "impossible, even with a computer," yet it is claimed that the pilot turned off his targeting computer before making firing the fatal shot. Never in history has a capital ship or space station been lost to a single torpedo. And photographic evidence shows multiple small explosions on the surface of the Death Star just prior to its destruction. This suggests that the design and placement of that port and indeed the entire attack was a cover-up and that strategically-placed explosives and controlled demolition, not a single missile, brought down the Death Star. It is also strongly suspected that the few available images of the Death Star's destruction have been digitally altered by an agent known only as "Lucas." What really destroyed the Death Star, and why does the Empire wish to hide the nature of the original explosion?

The Death Star even has turbolaser turrets inside this maintenance trench, a location where no enemy could be expected. Why?

(2) This pilot and his supporting fighters approached a battle station with a proven planet-destroying superlaser, armament capable of withstanding an assault by a fleet of heavy cruisers and defended by hundreds of TIE fighters manned by the Empire's finest pilots, yet the Rebels were able to approach the Death Star with ease and only a handful of defensive fighters were launched - and those far too late to make any difference. Was Grand Moff Tarkin under orders to permit the Rebel ships to make a convincing attack the Death Star?

Grand Moff Tarkin with Senator Leia Organa and Lord Vader on the Death Star a few days before the attack. Organa, who at one point had been sentenced to death, left the Death Star under mysterious circumstances shortly after this image was recorded. Why?

(3) Lord Vader himself, once known as the "best star pilot in the galaxy" but who had not flown in combat for many years and was alleged to be unqualified on the latest spacecraft, manned an experimental TIE fighter - possibly the only one on the Death Star equipped with hyperdrive - and joined in the defensive effort, only to flee seconds before the fatal explosion, making him one of the very few survivors of this catastrophe. And there are disturbing rumors of a transmission between Vader and the Emperor shortly after the attack which ended with the Emperor simply ordering Vader to "come home." Was Lord Vader part of a larger conspiracy to allow the Death Star to be attacked - and knew (or suspected) enough to make a timely escape?

A single example of this advanced TIE prototype was on the Death Star. Why?

(4) This conspiracy theory is strengthened by the many ties between Lord Vader and the attackers. The pilot who allegedly destroyed the Death Star was known to be associated with two droids once owned by Lord Vader himself - including the astromech droid that both had carried on their fighters and which was suspected of transporting crucial documents concerning the design of the Death Star to the Rebellion. Were these documents intentionally leaked by someone high in the government - perhaps by Vader himself, the former owner of that droid? These droids and the rebel pilot were seen on the Death Star itself a few days before the attack - and in the company of several stormtroopers. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Lord Vader's former instructor who was thought to have perished in the Jedi Purge, was also seen on the Death Star shortly before the attack - and is said to have mysteriously vanished while in the company of Lord Vader. The ship of a notorious smuggler was seen near the Death Star during the final moments. That figure, possibly an associate of the underworld kingpin Jabba the Hutt, was known to be on Tatooine at the same time that Darth Vader's Star Destroyer and the suspected droids were in the system, was seen before the attack in a bar with a figure who may have been Kenobi, and was seen on the Death Star itself - and who is alleged to later have been Vader's dinner guest on at least one occasion. These many connections are troubling. But most important are the whispers that the rebel pilot is a close relative to Lord Vader - perhaps even his son. What were Lord Vader's connections to the Rebellion, to the criminal underworld, and to that pilot?

Lord Vader with shadowy "businessman" Lando Calrissian (a known associate of the mysterious smuggler) and bounty hunter Boba Fett. Note the uniformed stormtrooper in the background. What was the purpose of this meeting?

(5) The Emperor assured us that the Death Star was the "ultimate power" in the universe. Yet when the Death Star was destroyed the Emperor had already secretly begun construction of a second, even more powerful battle station. Did the Emperor arrange the destruction of the first Death Star to guarantee funding and support for the second and to encourage escalation of the war against the Rebellion?

Comparison of the two Death Stars. Was destruction of the first a ploy to increase military spending and escalate the war?

(6) And when the second Death Star was destroyed in the so-called Battle of Endor witnesses report that Lord Vader not only disobeyed a direct order from the Emperor to remain on the Super Star Destroyer Executor - whose loss is rumored to be due to the actions of a single Rebel starfighter - but also abandoned the battle station moments before its final destruction in the company of a man suspected of being the very pilot who fired the torpedo that allegedly destroyed the first Death Star. Lord Vader has not been seen or heard from since that day. Has Vader been an agent of the Rebellion this entire time and now resides comfortably in secret retirement, having been instrumental in the destruction of not just one but both Death Stars, the loss of a Super Star Destroyer, and the assassination of the Emperor himself?

Where is Darth Vader today?

The truth may never be known. But those who seek it should never cease to examine the narrative that is accepted without question by so many.